


Be Careful With The Angel

by theboringdolphin



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, M/M, has original characters in it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-03-22 12:21:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3728758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theboringdolphin/pseuds/theboringdolphin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To be able to play football, Percy needs to bring his grades up for English, but how exactly can he do that when he's completely clueless and English isn't exactly his forte? Enlisting help from Nico di Angelo seems to be the only option he has, only the brown eyed boy doesn't seem to like him very much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Failing Ain't Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like this new story...let me know what you think!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Getting up for school was a hassle, in the sense that because winter break was well over and it was now bordering into March, students of almost all ages were listless, wanting summer to make an appearance. Of course, for the high schoolers, it seemed that this just made them even more agitated. Anxious to get out of school to bask in the summer while it could last before the bitter call of winter. Seniors were busy getting things and themselves ready as they prepared to graduate from high school and step out into the "real world" while the juniors were excited at their shot to "rule the school".

Percy groaned as he got up and sluggishly made his way to the bathroom. It was becoming increasingly harder and harder every morning, with summer vacation approaching (just not fast enough) to actually get up, get dressed and go to school. Of course, after the morning fatigue faded, Percy would soon feel more like himself and dare he say, a bit pumped to be going to school. Not that he would ever admit out loud, of course.

Getting dressed in nothing more than a warm sweater, with a white v-neck underneath and jeans, he made his way downstairs where the familiar smells of breakfast permeated throughout the house. Walking in, he was greeted by the ever familiar sights of his mother and his stepfather, laughing as they watched the morning show, Good Day New York, and his mother cooked breakfast.

"Morning mom," Percy said as he walked into the kitchen and gave his mom a good morning kiss (call him a mama's boy, so what?) and grabbed a plate to start piling food on.

"Morning hon'," Sally smiled at her son.

"Morning Paul," Percy said as he stacked three pancakes, two pieces of bacon and hash browns, he didn't really feel all that hungry today.

"Morning Percy, how are you getting to school?" Paul asked him.

"Oh, um, I noticed that the roads are clearing up," Percy started, already knowing that if he mentioned taking his motorcycle to school, his mom would not approve, "and snow hasn't fallen in like two weeks-"

"Percy," his mother cut him off, saying his name in that voice that he knew would be the start of a bit of a lecture.

"Mom, the roads are clear and I've been riding my bike for a solid year now," Percy tried giving his mother a smile that did not at all deter her stern, yet worrying expression.

Sally Jackson, was by the far, the best mom in the entire world. Yeah, okay, maybe a lot of kids say that about their moms, but seriously, Percy definitely did think that Sally was the best mom in the whole world. The many times Percy would get in trouble, when he was younger, not once had Sally ever yelled at him and Percy wasn't exactly an easy kid to handle. In all of his 17 years of life, and out of all the times he had gotten in trouble, his mother never did raise her voice, never got frustrated in front of Percy, never got angry with him. Honestly, his mother was a saint, at least in his eyes.

"I still can't believe I let Poseidon talk me into actually giving you permission to keep that motorcycle, I'm afraid one of these days that you'll lose control." Sally muttered.

"Mom, I'm always careful and I'll be fine, besides Triton and dad taught me everything they know," Percy grinned at his mother, "besides, I haven't ridden her in so long, mom I'm dying here."

Paul watched with amusement as Percy begged to be able to ride his motorcycle to school. "It hasn't snowed Sally, maybe you should let Percy ride his bike to school."

"Yes, thank you Paul, see mom, Paul agrees with me."

"Fine, fine, ride your bike but be careful," Sally warned as Percy whooped in victory.

"Thanks mom, okay, I gotta go, don't wanna be late, see ya guys later!" Percy dashed to the front door and put on his coat. Yeah it was February but it was still freezing outside. Didn't matter much to Percy, all he wanted was to ride his baby again, having to put her away for winter had been one of the worst and most difficult things he had to do.

He could still remember the day he came home with the motorcycle and his mom freaking out as his dad, Poseidon and his half-brother, Triton tried to calm her down and reason with her. It had been a gift from his dad on his sixteenth birthday, the year before that Triton had taught him how to ride and Percy had honestly fallen in love. So, when he got the bike from his dad, he was more than excited to be able to drive it around New York. Triton had even coached Percy and helped him study so that Percy could get his motorcycle license.

His motorcycle was a black, 2012 Yamaha Stryker Cruiser that had been priced at $11,090 and delivered from PA. When Percy laid his eyes on it, it had been love at first sight. Seeing the jet black paint work, the shiny wheels, actually feeling the bike roar to life, it had given him chills, the kind you would get while having sex and embarrassing enough, Percy hated to admit he had gotten a bit hard...

Wheeling out of the garage that the condo provided, Percy slowly made his way out, being cautious of any vehicles before turning right, and then driving off to school. The thrill he felt every time he would zip past cars, going as fast as he could go with the traffic and speed limits, made him feel excited, as if he were on a rollercoaster that had just reached the peak before going down. That's what it felt like, even after a year. This bike, had truly become his. His father and brother taught him how to take care of her, by making him take it apart and rebuild it, how to make sure it was always in the best condition, and to always keep it clean.

Rolling in to the school's parking lot, Percy parked his bike and turned it off. "Bye baby, I'll see you after school...after practice actually." And with that, he walked away from his beautiful motorcycle, named Bella (don't judge him) and made his way to the school building. His school, Olympia High, was huge, probably a bit unnecessary with six floors, about a hundred different electives, huge football, soccer, basketball, baseball (you name it) court(s), a gigantic cafeteria, a band room that was not considered a room but more like a stadium; basically his school was big, and the number of kids that attended this school, unbelievable.

Walking to his locker which was luckily on the first floor and nearby a staircase, he opened it up and took out his math textbook, math in the morning, kill him please but at least he was decent in math. That was of course due to the help of his friends Annabeth and Kevin.

"Hey man," Percy turned to the sound of his friend's voice and giving each other a fist bump, they started walking up the stairs. Kevin Montegomery was a redhead, with forest green eyes, a few freckles dusting his cheeks and nose, and a wicked smile that could make any girl swoon. He was tall, as tall as Percy (6'3) and just a bit buffer than him. They were both on the football team, with Percy being QB and Kevin being his right-hand man, having met each other freshman year, they quickly became close friends. Kevin had moved from Florida to New York at the beginning of high school and so didn't know anyone, until Percy introduced him to his friends, needless to say, everyone had accepted Kevin into their fold. "Dude, we've got a killer test for English today, did you study?" Kevin asked him as they made their way to math.

"What? No way, we do?" Percy asked, panicking because if he failed another English test...coach was gonna rip him a new one.

"Dude, you didn't know?" Kevin asked, an eyebrow raising.

"No man, what the f- I'm going. To fail."

"Bro that sucks, I found out yesterday from-" Kevin stopped mid-sentence and Percy turned to look at his friend, noticing a faint blush on his cheeks but before he could question his friend about it (more like tease), it was gone. "From, uh, anyway, I totally crammed whatever I could last night. Barely slept."

"Shit, I gotta study, and I only got three periods to study as much as I can...I gotta go back and get my English notes, I can't fail another test man." Percy was turning around to go back to the first floor and fetch his notebook when Kevin stopped him.

"We've got a minute before the bell rings, you're not gonna make it, look, let me write down on a piece of paper whatever I know and remember and you study that until we switch classes, okay?" Kevin asked him, somewhat putting Percy at ease.

"Okay...sounds good..."

"You should be fine, just...cram whatever you can into that empty skull of yours," Kevin smirked.

"Yeah, yeah- hey! My head's not empty!"

* * *

"Percy, you failed another test, again," his English teacher, Mr. Burnt (lots of kids teased him about that name), sighed once more before giving Percy his test paper back. So much for being "fine".

"I know...I'm sorry, I'll try harder next time." Percy said, sounding upset over failing once more. Although to be fair, one, he was dyslexic, and two, English had never been his forte.

"Percy, I'm sorry but this was your last chance, I'm afraid you won't be able to play football until you get your grades back up." His teacher sighed, clearly not wanting to do that to Percy, he was a great kid, just not all that bright when it came to English.

"No wait, wait, please Mr. Burnt, what can I do? What can I do to bring my grades up?" Percy asked, pleading to be given another chance.

"Well, um, you could do some extra work and that could help. Write an essay on a topic of your choice, of course well within the topics of which I've selected, read a few of the tales that we have read since the beginning of the school year and write a short summary, but that's about it and it could possibly only help you a little bit, the rest will depend on your classwork and tests, I suggest you get a tutor if you need help. Maybe ask one of your friends?" Mr. Burnt suggested.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Burnt, I'll definitely do the extra work," Percy said.

"Okay Perce, I won't tell the coach about this, I'll hold off until you give me the essay and the short summaries, due by the end of the month."

"Thanks again, I won't let you down, I promise."

Walking out of the classroom, Percy felt so epically screwed. How the hell was he going to bring his grade up?

"Wait so, you won't be able to play football unless you bring your grades back up?" Kevin asked him as soon as Percy sat down at their usual table for lunch. The day had passed by in a blur, with Percy in a bit of a daze.

"Yep."

"Dude, we've gotta get you a tutor." Kevin shook his head as he took a bite out of his burger.

"Get who a tutor? And why?" Came the question asked by Annabeth Chase, his long time, childhood friend and at one point, girlfriend, but that had been back in the beginning of high school before they both came to the conclusion that they were better off as friends. Annabeth was a beautiful girl with blonde, curly hair, gray eyes that were a bit too intense and rosy, peach skin.

"Percy for English because if not, then we're gonna need a new QB," Kevin huffed slightly.

"No way, Percy, how is this possible?" Annabeth asked him, looking straight into his sea green eyes.

"I don't know...I thought I was doing good and..." Percy trailed off.

"Hey Annabeth, you're good at English, right? Why don't you tutor Percy?" Kevin suggested.

"No way dude," Percy said quickly.

"Yeah I have to agree with Seaweed brain over here, me tutoring him in English will only end in disaster." Annabeth shook her head, opening up her snapple.

"What? Why?" Kevin asked, looking confused.

"We tried that once, last year," Percy clarified, beginning his explanation on why Annabeth tutoring Percy was a horrible idea. "We ended up fighting all the time and barely getting anywhere."

"Well that's your fault, you didn't understand me."

"No, it's your fault, you weren't patient." Percy countered.

"I was patient, you just weren't paying attention!"

"The letters kept swimming! I tol-"

"Okay, okay, enough!" Kevin cut in, "I'm trying to enjoy my burger in peace."

Percy and Annabeth looked at Kevin and said "sorry" at the same time.

"Either way, I need help with English and I don't know who or where to go..." Percy said, drumming his fingers on the table.

They ate in silence, with Annabeth filling them in about her day here and there, but mostly, Kevin and Percy were in their own little worlds, thinking about what to do with this situation. Percy for one, had no idea who else to ask to help him in English, he could probably ask his friend, Jason...or maybe his best bud, Grover. Would they help though? They kind of already had busy schedules. Jason was captain of the baseball team and track team, Grover was the president of the Environmental club with Juniper, his girlfriend. Plus they had this huge project they were working on, on the roof of the school, growing a garden. Man, who knew looking for a tutor would be a hassle. He could go to the main office and ask to see who was available for tutoring sessions? Maybe he could fi-

"Percy, I've got it!" Kevin interrupted his train of thought. Looking over to his redheaded friend, Percy gave him a questioning look. "I think I know of someone who could tutor you. I used to have him for English last year until this year he got moved up a grade, he's crazy smart, maybe he could help you...although, he's not much of a people person...not really social." Kevin muttered.

"Well, who is it?" Annabeth asked.

"Probably not someone you guys know, his name is Nico di Angelo," Kevin answered.

"Oh, I've heard of him, yeah, he's pretty smart." Annabeth agreed. If Wise Girl agreed to someone being smart, Percy had to believe it.

"No, I've never heard of him..." Percy said.

"I thought so, anyway, I could ask him to tutor you." Kevin offered.

"You know him like that?" Annabeth asked, amusement evident in her eyes.

"No," Kevin blushed slightly, "I actually haven't talked to him since the beginning of the year, last year I would ask him for help and he's help me but that's about as far as our relationship goes..."

"So then, there's no guarantee he'll help," Annabeth rolled her eyes at Kevin. Always talking a bit too fast before his brain could catch up.

"No, he could help, because it won't be me who's going to ask him, but instead a very close friend of his that-" and Kevin blushed once more, cutting himself off before actually explaining anything.

"That what, man? And why are you blushing so easily?" Percy asked, a smirk forming on his face.

"Shut your face," Kevin said, "I'm not blushing!"

"Yeah, you are," Annabeth started to giggle.

"Spit it out man," Percy teased him.

"I'm- talking to this girl...named Sunny...and she's really cool." Kevin said, growing even more red.

"Uh huh?" Annabeth asked, not being able to contain the laughter bubbling within her.

"And I really- like her...anyway, she's close friends with Nico and I could ask her to do me the favor of asking her friend to tutor you." Kevin finally managed to get that out, despite having his friends laugh at how uncomfortable he had been. "Jerks."

* * *

 

"So, where is your girlfriend?" Percy teased and was promptly elbowed in the gut by his copper haired friend.

"Shut your mouth," Kevin glared at Percy.

"Aw come on Kev, I'm just teasing, showing a bit of love baby," Percy blew Kevin a kiss. "Now, who's the girl that's making you blush and act like a girl?"

"Fuck off," Kevin tried to elbow Percy again but he missed. "Please Perce, don't embarrass me."

"That'd be a dream come true," Percy smirked as Kevin groaned.

"Kevin?" A new voice interrupted them and they both turned to look at who called after them.

A girl who looked to be about 5'5, with black hair, brown eyes, rosy skin and a warm smile on her face came up to them. She was wearing black skinnys, with a Nirvana t-shirt, obviously stating that she listened to rock, on her feet were tattered, black converse, and on her wrists were ponytails, a yin and yang bracelet, a bracelet of the all-seeing eye, and a skull leatherband. She had a septum piercing, and her ears had double piercings, on her upper lip, she had the Marilyn Monroe birthmark. This was definitely not someone he pegged Kevin would like. See, Kevin had a type and almost always the girls he liked were usually part of the popular group, the in-crowd. This girl named Sunny, was definitely not part of the in-crowd.

"Hey Sunshine," Kevin smirked at her, a completely different person from the blushing fool he had been mere minutes ago. This was the Kevin Percy was used to seeing, the confident, cool jock, not the flustered, blushing young man.

Sunny rolled her eyes before looking at Percy, "hey Percy, I'm Sunny Jones." She held out her hand for Percy to shake and the sea green eyed male outstretched his own hand. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you two?"

"I need a favor, well, it's technically Percy who needs the favor," Kevin started, "see, I know you're close with Nico di Angelo and he's super smart. Percy here, needs help," Kevin signaled to Percy, who only waved awkwardly, "he needs help with raising his grades up for English, specifically."

"And you were wondering if I could ask Nico to tutor Percy to help raise his grades?" Sunny finished, a smile on her face as she looked between Kevin and Percy.

"Please?" Percy asked, "I really need the help, I swear, I'll be nice."

"Not that he has to try, Percy's nice either way," Kevin clapped Percy on the back.

"Hm, okay, I'll ask." Sunny said.

"You will? Thank you so much!" Percy said, grinning widely at her.

"I'll let you know at the end of the day, which in your case means after football practice. See you two later." With a two-fingered salute and a wink from Kevin to her, she was gone.

"Come on, let's go to class," Kevin said, walking off to their next class.

Percy walked with him, hoping that this Nico would say yes to helping him out.

 


	2. Not Taking No For An Answer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Another day at school had passed and gone, and with it, came the unease many students felt as the awareness that summer was approaching in mere months, yet an imminent sense of trepidation for everyone knew that finals were soon advancing and many were fearing failure. With the exception of a select few that weren't too troubled with finals, since they had studied like normal students should have and were fully prepared to take on finals. Finals were just too close for anyone to smile really and summer vacation was too far away.

"Nico!" Came the shout that had said boy, that was busy taking out some books out of his locker, turning around to see his friend, Sunny, jogging up to him. "Glad I caught you," she breathed out, "listen, I need a favor from you."

"What is it?" Nico asked as he looked at his friend, a single eyebrow raised.

"Okay so you know how I'm talking to Kevin, right?" Sunny asked, to which the brown eyed boy nodded his head in answer. "Well, see his friend, named Percy Jackson-"

"Percy Jackson! How fascinating! I just can't wait to hear all about him! What are you guys talking about?" Came the interruption that cut off whatever Sunny was saying by none other than Will Solace, a curly haired blond with blue eyes that seemed to rival the sky, a smile that could make anyone put their guard down because of how friendly it was, and tan skin that glowed in the sunlight.

"You would've found out, but since you decided to interrupt me, you delayed the finding out...sequence...thing..." Sunny frowned a bit as she fumbled for a comeback.

"Ignore Will, continue with what you were saying," Nico rolled his eyes.

Will gasped, "hurtful!"

"Shut up Solace, let me talk," Sunny rolled her eyes, "anyway, Percy Jackson, not sure if you know him, but see, he needs a favor from you Nico..."

Nico eyed his friend for a minute, "what kind of favor?" He asked cautiously.

"See, he's failing English, badly and he needs a tutor to be able to play football, or else, then you can bet we won't be winning as many games if he's out...anyway, Percy asked me, well, he asked through Kevin because Kevin was the one who gave him the idea, to see if you would be so kind as to tutor him?" Sunny asked, looking at Nico with eyes that pleaded for Nico to consider what she was saying.

"You want me, to tutor some guy I don't even know...?" Nico snorted. "Get real, why should I waste my time with him? Besides, I'm sure he can find someone else to tutor him."

"Oh come on Nico! Please tutor him, Percy said he'd be nice! Besides, didn't you use to like him?" Sunny asked, hoping to convince Nico to tutor Percy.

"I only ever thought Percy was cute, he was appealing to my eyes Sunny, not my heart or mind, it didn't go that deep besides, he didn't really seem like my type," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, besides, I'm sure I'm more like Doom and Gloom's type instead of Percy," Will smiled cheekily which earned him a punch from Nico.

"Idiot just because I had a crush on you once doesn't mean you get to bring it up every chance you get," Nico said through gritted teeth. "Besides, it was only once that I had a crush on you and I will never have a crush you ever again."

"Oh come on Nico, it's fun besides, I love being able to say you once had a crush on me, even if it was one-sided..." Will smirked as he teased Nico.

"Oh shut up Solace," the brown eyed boy grumbled, "I regret ever having a crush on you, what did I even see in you in the first place?"

"The goodness that was within me?" The blond suggested. "My luscious blond locks? My amazing eyes? My appealing abs?" Nico rolled his eyes at Will's behavior.

"Nico, at least consider giving it some thought, Percy seems like he really needs help for English," Sunny pleaded with her friend.

"Well, that's his problem, not mine." Nico shook his head, closing his locker and slinging his back pack on his shoulder.

"Nico, please? He asked for you because he knows how smart you are."

"He does?" Nico asked skeptically.

"Well...he's heard how smart you are from Kevin..."

"Bye." Nico turned to walk away.

"And Annabeth Chase, he's friends with her and she said you were smart." Sunny tried to get Nico to change his mind.

"Then tell Annabeth thanks on my part, as for Percy, tell him to find another person who could tutor him, like his friend Annabeth, she's capable." With that, Nico walked away from Sunny and Will.

"Hey, we still on for video games tomorrow?" Will shouted after Nico but never got an answer, shrugging to himself, Will turned to Sunny, "now what?"

"Now, I find Percy and bring him the bad news," Sunny stomped her foot before turning around and walking to the football field.

"I'll come with, should be fun," Will trailed after the brown eyed girl.

"Fuck off dickless." Sunny snorted as she shoved Will, who merely stuck his tongue out at her.

* * *

 

Coming home from school meant coming home to an empty house that seemed to usually be devoid of life. Kind of ironic considering Nico's father owned a funeral home. More than half of the time, Nico and Hazel's, his half-sister, parents were rarely present in the di Angelo household. So the siblings usually lived a rather lonely life, with only each other for company and the occasional company of Frank Zhang, Hazel's boyfriend and Sunny and Will. Although, those three could all agree that the house was pretty creepy and so mostly invited either of the siblings over to their houses instead.

Walking into the empty house, Nico made his way to the kitchen, where on the table he saw a lone rose in a small vase, a yellow sticky note attached to the side of the vase. It was Persephone's, his stepmother, way of telling Nico and Hazel if either she or Hades, their father, were going to be working late. While their father owned a funeral home, Persephone owned a flower shop...right next door.

_Nico, Hazel, your father and I will be coming home late. So sorry we won't be there for dinner. I hope you two eat a healthy meal and go to bed on time. Stay safe children._

Persephone wasn't exactly a warm mother per se, but she wasn't cold either. She would show her affection from time to time to both Nico and Hazel, fully knowing that neither child was her own, fully knowing she could never have children. Most of the time, she would care for them as if they were her own but it was so rarely shown, and that was due to the fact that she worked a lot. Just like their father, who also wasn't a warm person, but he wasn't cold either. Both Persephone and Hades, if Nico had to describe them by temperature, were lukewarm people.

A beep of his phone had Nico dropping the note on the table and reaching for his phone, hoping to god it wasn't Sunny trying to convince him to tutor Percy Jackson. It wasn't, for which he was thankful for, it was his sister, Hazel.

_At Frank's, won't be home till later, don't worry about me. See you later bro, love you._

Nico read the text message sent to him from his sister explaining her absence, a little purple heart emoticon at the end of 'love you'.

His sister Hazel Levesque was from New Orleans and had lived with Hades and Persephone from the age of 11 and up. See, Nico's dad had a moment of weakness once while on a trip to New Orleans, and had cheated on Persephone. Suffice it to say, Persephone had not been pleased with dad at all. It was during that time in which she had temporarily moved out that the empty house felt even emptier. Eventually, Persephone managed to forgive his dad and moved back in. A year later, news of Hazel's birth came to light and Hades would travel back and forth, with Nico in tow, to New Orleans and spend as much time as he could with his daughter, his second daughter.

A month after Hazel had turned 11 something terrible happened to her mother. She was killed during a burglary, leaving Hazel alone since her mother had no family. With the death of her mother still fresh, his sister moved to New York and lived with dad, Persephone and Nico, starting fresh. Three years later and the four of them became a family, well, more like reinforced the idea of being a family.

_Okay, be safe, tell me when you're leaving his house._

Nico texted back and thought for minute, debating whether or not to say 'love you' back...

_Love you too._

He sent out. Maybe he was a bit weird when it came to showing affection but for his sister, he would do anything, he adored Hazel with every ounce of his being.

Taking a can of coke out of the fridge and getting a pack of oreos out of the cupboard, Nico made his way to his bedroom, wanting nothing more than to relax...and possibly think about what Sunny had asked of him earlier and then fret over his decision to say no. Should Nico have said no to tutoring Percy Jackson? It sounded like Percy really needed the help from what Sunny had said.

Then again did Nico really want to add tutoring to his plate? Not that it was particularly full but honestly, did he really want to have to deal with some jock who probably read at a third grade level? Nope, he definitely made the right choice. Well, no use in dwelling on it. It was time to move on to other things that were important if not more so, like League Of Legends.

* * *

 

Walking up to Percy and Kevin with Will trailing behind her like some puppy, knowing the boys hoped for Nico to say yes, was a lot harder than Sunny had originally thought. Percy and Kevin were waiting outside of the locker room, already changed from football practice, and waiting on Sunny and Will to make their way from the stands to where they were. They couldn't have gone up to her and ask her what Nico's answer was right as they were having practice, coach would have blown a fuse. Opting instead to have her meet them at the boys locker room was better.

"Hey guys," Sunny said awkwardly, coming to a stop in front of Percy and Kevin.

"Hey Sunshine," Kevin gave her a dazzling smile.

"Hey Sunny," Percy greeted her, "hey Will."

"Sup guys," Will smiled at them.

"So," Percy started, "what did he say?"

Sunny bit her lower lip and looked at Percy, "I'm really sorry Percy, he said no."

"No? Why?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know why, I guess because he doesn't want to? Either way, I tried to convince him and he wouldn't budge..." Sunny chewed on her bottom lip, "I'm really sorry."

"What am I going to do now? Dude, I'm gonna fail English..." Percy said, panicking slightly.

"Why don't you just go ask him yourself?" Will suggested.

"Huh?" Kevin looked to the blond.

"I'm saying, why doesn't Percy go to Nico's house and ask the grumpy little shit himself to tutor him, saying he won't leave until he does. Wear Nico out until he agrees."

"Um, I'm not sure but doesn't that count as some form of assault?" Kevin asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Who cares? As long as Percy can get Nico to tutor him, am I right?" Will grinned.

"I swear, I sometimes wonder what goes through your head at times..." Sunny shook her own head.

"I think he's onto something..." Percy said, looking down at the floor. "Where does Nico live?"

Sunny and Will looked at each other before giving him Nico's address. Percy all but ran to his motorcycle, putting on his helmet and starting his baby up. If Nico said no to Sunny, he was just going to have to convince Nico to tutor him himself. Driving off towards Nico's house, Percy briefly prayed to god he would get the help he needed.

...

Not exactly the house he envisioned Nico to live in but who was he to talk? Percy thought to himself as he parked his bike and made his way to the house in front of him. The house was dark, dark wood, it almost looked black with black tiles and all of the curtains drawn. It would have looked downright creepy...if only it didn't have a bunch of bright colored flowers on the bottom windowsills. The flowers kind of threw the whole thing off for a loop.

Walking up to the house, Percy lifted his hand to ring the doorbell before stopping just as his fingers were mere inches away from pressing the button.  _Focus Percy,_ Percy pep talked to himself,  _just ask him to tutor you, do what Will said, wear him down..._

Shaking his head, he pressed down on the button and waited with bated breath to see who this Nico di Angelo was, that flat out refused to tutor him.

The ringing of the bell interrupted Nico from defeating this other player and so Nico's character lost. Briefly mourning the loss of his character and cursing whoever was at the door, he grumpily made his way downstairs. He was going to chew out the person responsible for his loss once he opened the door. But when he did open the door, all thoughts of cursing out the person who's fault caused him his loss were thrown out the window and the words died on his throat, because standing before him was none other than Percy Jackson himself.

"Hey," Percy started a bit awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, Nico could tell he was uncomfortable. "You must be Nico- no wait- stupid," Percy muttered, "of course you're Nico, why- nevermind, listen, I just came by to ask you to tutor me."

Nico's brain short-circuited for a minute. Did Percy Jackson really just come down to Nico's house to ask Nico in person to tutor him? Was this a dream? A joke? Why the hell was Percy frickin' Jackson so adamant about having Nico tutor him? There were probably lots of tutors out there that could help Percy, so why did Percy want Nico to tutor him, out of all the other applicants that could do the same job, if not better. For instance, his friend, Annabeth Chase could tutor Percy.

"Nico?" Percy asked once more, seeing as Nico had taken a minute too long to respond with a (hopefully) yes or (hopefully not) no.

"Uh, why- listen Percy," Nico started, "I'm sure there are other tutors who can help you pass English, besides, I already told Sunny no."

"I know there must be other tutors but I have a feeling I'll work better with you, besides, you're crazy smart, please tutor me? It's just English." Percy pleaded.

"Why don't you ask your friend, Annabeth?"

"I tried once with her, it didn't work out."

"I'm sure there's another tutor out there who is willing to help you."

"I'm not going to leave you alone until you tutor me," Percy said, not wanting to get to that point but seeing as how he had no other option unless it was defeat, Percy stooped to that level.

"Really?" Nico asked, sounding amused. "And uh, how exactly will that help you?"

"Oh, um..."

"Yeah, didn't think that far, huh bud?" Nico smirked at Percy.

"Please, just tutor me, I promise, I'm a quick learner." Percy begged once more, this time going as far as to showing Nico his puppy dog eyes.

The brown eyed boy took one look at Percy's puppy dog eyes that made him look like a baby seal in need, and he felt his will crumble. Those green eyes seemed to have grown three times the size, Nico couldn't look away, even though he wanted to so badly.

"Please Nico?" Percy begged once more, pleading with Nico to tutor him.

Frowning a bit at what he was about to do, Nico nodded his head solemnly, "okay fine...I'll tutor you."

"Yes! Thank you so much, I promise, I'm going to learn really fast so I can get out of your hair."

"Yeah, yeah, are you free tomorrow?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, after football practice, want me to stop by then?"

"Yeah, I'll...whip something up for you to study...tell me, how are you when reading poems?" Nico asked Percy.

"Er..."

"Settles it, get ready for tomorrow Jackson."

"Thanks again Nico, see you then." Percy gave Nico a winning smile and walked back to his bike to go home.

"See you." Nico said as he closed the door to his house.


	3. Sonnet 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and the wonderful comments, enjoy!  
> Thereare two poems that I use for this chapter, one is War Is Never Over by Cecil L. Harrison and the other is Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? I do not own these poems whatsoever, I am merely using them in the story.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Honestly, the school is way too damn big in Nico's opinion. Not only had Nico gotten lost his first day in school as a freshmen, but also as a sophomore and again...as a junior. Seriously, how big does a school have to actually be?

Trudging to his locker on the first floor which was both a blessing and a curse, because one, Nico had easy access to getting his school material in the morning without having to do any sort of workout (yes, he considered going up a few flight of stairs a workout) and his first half of the morning consisted of easy classes with easy material to carry. Yet on the otherhand, if he even so much as forgot a book or notebook, he was screwed because he would have to go back to his locker...all the way in the first floor.

Taking out his English notebook and the book they were currently reading in class,  _The Metamorphosis,_ as well as his chemistry notebook, and his notebook for his AP American History class, he shut the locker and turned around to make his way to class when he came face to...chest? with an offendingly bright orange t-shirt. Looking up the well-toned chest, in his humble opinion, and up the strong neck, Nico made eye contact with startling sea green eyes.

"Uh...?" Nico eloquently said and fumbled for a few seconds for something, anything to say. "Um-" Nice. Very nice.

"Morning Nico," Percy saved Nico from looking like a bumbling fool, and if he noticed Nico feeling uncomfortable or not, he didn't comment on it.

"Morning Percy..." Nico said slowly, not exactly sure why Percy was at his locker...not exactly sure how Percy found his locker in the first place... "can I help you?"

"Yes, I was just..." Percy scratched the back of his head, looking a bit shy, "wondering if we were still on for the tutoring session today after 5..."

"Oh, yeah, we are. Don't worry, I got something for us planned." Nico reassured Percy.

"Okay, again, thank you so much for doing this." Percy smiled at Nico widely, and Nico couldn't help but think his smile was nice. Friendly, warm, nice. Yeah, Percy was a nice guy.

"It's not a problem Percy, see you later." With that, Nico said goodbye, not exactly waiting for Percy to say his goodbye and walking off to class.

Lunch could not come any faster, Nico thought as he grabbed his slice of pizza and made his way to his friends, who were saving him a spot at their usual table. Settling down in his seat and putting aside his book, he actually found The Metamorphosis very interesting, he began to dig into his meal but his stomach was aflutter because the school day was near ending, which meant come 5 PM, Percy would be over at his house, studying English. The only reason he was even nervous about the whole thing was because he had never tutored someone he didn't know, sure when Kevin, if memory served him correctly, asked him for help and Nico would give him pointers but never full on did he tutor someone. The brown eyed boy didn't know if he would be any good with it, let alone patient with Percy, a virtue he lacked.

"Dude, you good?" Will tapped Nico's shoulder.

The brown eyed boy turned his head slightly to look at Will, "huh? Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine," Sunny said, looking across the table and straight at Nico.

"Well, I am."

"Are you nervous about tutoring Percy today?" Sunny asked, feeling guilt bubbling within her at the thought of Nico being uncomfortable and having forced him into doing something he had clearly not wanted to do. "Listen, if you don't want to tutor Percy, you don't have to. Look dude, I'm sorry I pushed it so hard, but if you feel uncomfortable..I could t-"

"Save it Sunny, besides, it's not that I feel uncomfortable exactly, I'm...doubting myself, thinking whether or not, I'll do a good job." Nico shrugged his shoulders, he didn't want Sunny feeling guilt over this, it was just tutoring.

"You're gonna be great Nico, don't worry, besides, you're an awesome tutor," Will said, hoping to give Nico some confidence.

"Yeah, you tutored me remember, for chemistry?" Sunny agreed wholeheartedly with Will.

"Yeah but...you're not exactly a stranger now are you Sunny?"

"Well neither is Percy," Will pointed out.

"But I don't exactly know him." Nico countered. "I have never even talked to the guy before yesterday. Not even so much as a hello and we're in the same grade! Besides, I think half of it is because this school is so damn big and the other half is because Percy's pretty popular, after all he is the QB."

"Okay so you have a point there," Will conceded, "but now is your chance to know him, try and be friends with him, and tutor him so he can play and win us some games."

"Real helpful there blondie," Sunny deadpanned.

"Whatever guys, it's just nerves, I'll get over them." Nico rolled his eyes and continued to eat his lunch, hoping the day could drag along.

So, the day hadn't exactly dragged along and when he got home and started to play Assassin's Creed Identity, he couldn't wait until he got his hands on Victory, the time flew by. Before he knew it, it was 4:45 and he had 15 minutes to get his things ready, not to mention Percy was coming from football practice, would he be hungry? Should Nico fix him something to eat? Maybe take out a few snacks, who knew how long they would be there studying.

Quickly shutting off his game, he went downstairs and saw his sister was home, she had been in art club. She was preparing her back pack as if to go out again, where? Nico didn't know.

"Hey Hazel," Nico greeted her with a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey Nico, I didn't know you were here, I didn't even hear you," Hazel grabbed his hand and squeezed it briefly before letting go, fully aware that her brother didn't exactly like to come in contact with people. Especially with people he didn't know, but he would make an exception to those he was fond of, for instance, Hazel, Hades, Persephone, Sunny and Will, on occasion with the blond.

"Playing a video game." Was Nico's reply.

"Nerd," his sister teased good-naturedly.

"Where are you going?"

"Frank's house, we have a big test coming up for math, god, I hate tests, not to mention we have finals coming up too!" Hazel whined, "you'd think they would let us off easy so that we could study or something..."

"Yeah, school definitely sucks, well, have fun studying. Say hi to Frank for me," Nico said as he started taking out stuff to make sandwiches with.

"I will, what are you doing?" Hazel asked, having noticed the ton of paper and the taking of two plates from the cupboard.

"I'm going to tutor someone, he should be here by 5," Nico answered, putting taylor-ham and muenster cheese on a slice of bread before putting on tomato, lettuce, slight mayo and finally, slicing it up in half so that it'd be easier to eat. Then doing the same with another slice of bread.

"Oh, okay, good luck with that, I'll see you later. Oh, by the way, what should we eat? Dad and Persephone are once again,  _not_  going to join us." Hazel rolled her eyes.

"Not sure, text me if you're craving anything," Nico looked over at his sister.

"Okay. Bye."

* * *

 

Laying out the papers he had printed out and putting the food out on the coffee table of the living room, along with soda and some cookies, Nico waited with bated breath for the doorbell to ring. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was 4:59, one more minute before Percy would show up. Gosh, why was he so nervous?

At 5 o'clock sharp, the doorbell rang throughout the silent house and Nico made his way to the door with what felt like jello legs. Opening it up, he saw Percy standing there, in the cold February air, his hair wet, and his hot breath visible every time he breathed out.

"Hey," Percy gave Nico a wide grin.

"Hey, come inside." Nico stepped aside and let Percy through.

The house on the inside was definitely better than the outside, not by a lot, but still. The floor was a dark wood, the walls were a bland beige, at least the small hallway that led to the rest of the house was. Walking into the living room, Percy saw there was a big couch off to side, right before the windows. On the other side was the TV, on the right of the TV was a loveseat and on the left of the TV, the TV being the center, was an armchair. In the middle, was a wooden coffee table, where papers and food were waiting.

The walls of the living room were a soft yellow color, and there were a few pictures hanging off the walls. Percy could just make out a picture of Nico, from when he was younger, way younger, he looked to be about nine and behind him was a very pretty girl that almost looked like the spitting image of Nico. Maybe it was his sister? Although, the only sister he knew Nico had was his half-sister, Hazel.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable," Nico's voice cut through the silence. Percy noticed that the house seemed empty, devoid of anyone else.

"Thanks, is that for us?" Percy asked, pointing to the food, he was embarrassed to admit, he was starving and he really wanted that sandwich.

"Yeah, I'd figured you'd be hungry after practice, you get two sandwiches, and there's cookies so..." Nico trailed off, a bit nervous.

"Ah, thanks Nico, this was really nice of you."

"It's no problem really," Nico had the grace to blush slightly at how sincere Percy sounded.

"No really, thank you," Percy smiled warmly at the brown eyed boy.

"Well, let's get started, you can eat, I can...read the poems out loud I guess," Nico settled into the couch, setting the proper amount of space between himself and Percy. As Percy began to dig into his food, Nico picked up a poem. "Okay, so the first poem I'll read is going to be War Is Never Over by Cecil L. Harrison and you are going to tell me your understanding of them poem, what you got from it and what you think the writer wanted to get across as the message."

"Okay," the green eyed young man agreed, and Nico cleared his throat before beginning to read.

_War is never over_  
Thought the Treaties maybe signed  
The memories of the battles  
Are forever in our minds

_War is never over_  
_So when you welcome heroes home_  
_Remember in their minds they hold  
_ _Memories known to them alone_

_War is never over_  
_Nam veterans know this well_  
_Now other wars bring memories back  
_ _Of their own eternal hell_

_War is never over_  
For I knew world war two  
_And I'll not forget the battles  
_ _Or the nightmares that ensue_

_War is never over_  
Those that left home to wait know this  
For many still are waiting  
It was their farewell kiss

_War is never over_  
Though we win victory  
Still in our minds the battles  
No freedom is free!

Nico finished, having gotten chills from reading the poem, it was one he loved to read sometimes, those times when he would hear on the news the wars raging on in the world. He looked over at Percy who seemed to have inhaled his food. He looked deep in thought as he pondered what Nico had just read.

"So, what did you get from the poem?" Nico asked.

"I feel like, this person wants war to end?" Percy looked over at Nico. "I mean, he's been haunted by war, he's obviously experienced this and when he comes back home, not only does he come back a different person with a different perspective but he comes back with memories that haunt him. War is never over is the line that keeps on repeating and...I feel like he just wants war to be over. Can you read those last two lines again?"

_"Still in our minds the battles, no freedom is free!"_ Nico read them once more.

"See, we win our battles, we win and we're victorious, yet, at a price?" Percy looked to Nico for confirmation, and the brown eyed boy nodded his head, encouraging Percy to continue with his train of thought. "At the price of...death? People die and that's the price to pay for war. No war is won freely." Percy concluded.

"Good job Percy," Nico smirked at him, maybe Percy wasn't so much of a dumb jock? "I'm...surprisingly impressed. I really like what you thought of the poem, did you like it?"

"I did, in a sort of chilling way, if that makes any sense, like, we hear about war but we've never experienced it, we don't know what it's like to be in another country and fighting for your own. And the memories that you bring back with you, who knows how that could affect you...this poem sort of, lets someone in on a soldier's perspective?"

"I like that answer," Nico smiled. "Okay, onto the next one. Shakespeare's Sonnet 18."

"Aww man," Percy groaned, "Shakespeare? Really?"

"What's wrong with it?" Nico asked, a look of bemusement on his face.

"I suck at understanding Shakespeare."

"I'm sure this one will be easy, it's fairly popular, in fact, very popular and I'm sure you've read it in class once of twice." Nico rolled his eyes at Percy's childish whining, "listen."

_Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?  
_ _Thou art more lovely and more temperate:  
_ _Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,  
_ _And summer's lease hath all too short a date:  
_ _Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,  
_ _And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;  
_ _And every fair from fair sometime declines,  
_ _By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;  
_ _But thy eternal summer shall not fade_  
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;  
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,  
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;  
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,  
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Nico looked over at Percy who had his face scrunched up trying to understand what Nico had just read. The brown eyed boy couldn't help but laugh which had Percy turning his attention to Nico, his visage confused. "What's funny?" Percy smiled at Nico.

"You look so lost." Nico laughed once more.

Percy started to chuckle as he shook his head, "yeah, I am. Help me understand."

"Okay, so Shakespeare wrote this sonnet for the person he loved, comparing her to a summer's day, which a summer's day is supposed to be beautiful. Saying how she was so beautiful, that it will never fade, not even Death would take away her beauty. And as long as men can breath and see, which means read, then this sonnet lives, and thus this gives life to her..." Nico trailed off, hoping Percy would get it.

"The chick he's writing to...isn't going to die," Percy started, a pensive look on his face.

"And why do you think that?" Nico asked.

"Read the second to last line, please," Percy asked Nico.

"So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this..."

A moment of silence ensued and Nico thought to give Percy a little bit more help. "'This' being the poem...one would assume?"

Percy took on a blank expression as soon as Nico said that before he barked out a loud laugh, "what a stuck up little shit! He knew he was so good that his sonnet would be around forever and he  _told_ her that! Not even after she had died would she truly be dead because so long as the poem is continued to be read, so long she lives, that cocky bastard."

Nico snorted, his eyebrows raising, "definitely not the reaction I was hoping for but it was good that you got what he was trying to get across, more than good, despite your phrasing, it was smart. You're very smart Percy."

Percy had the decency to blush, his eyes looking down as he started rubbing the back of his neck, feeling sheepish, "thanks Nico...that...means a lot," Percy admitted, "it means...so much."

Nico looked over at Percy wide-eyed, wondering why that compliment meant so much and he couldn't help the small blush on his own cheeks, "it's the truth...how about we end it here?"

Percy looked over at Nico and nodded his head, "sure. Can I come back tomorrow?" Percy asked him.

"Sure, I'll have something ready for us," Nico smiled at him.

"Thanks again," Percy got up, stretched his body and made his way to the door, with Nico in tow. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you."


	4. You Think Me Clever?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the lovely comments and the kudos, enjoy this new chapter!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

"Great job Percy," Mr. Burnt nodded as he read over a summary Percy had written up to start getting his grades up. "I'm very glad you understood Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, we read it at the beginning of the year, and I am very glad you have written a summary for it. I'll be putting this in the gradebook, good work." His teacher praised the green eyed young man.

"Thanks again Mister, for giving me a chance," Percy smiled at him.

"Not a problem Percy, I knew if you just applied yourself you'd do wonderful, and I'm sorry if in class it seems like you're not getting the help you need, but I do have other kids who need my help who are more...lost than you Percy. Did you find a tutor?" Mr. Burnt asked Percy.

"Yes, I did, he's very good. Well, I'll get to writing that essay and the next summary, I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Burnt."

"Okay, thank you again Percy." Mr. Burnt waved Percy off.

Going to the library, Percy passed by his locker and put away his math textbook and notebook, and started to take out his chemistry notebook. Closing his locker and making his way to his destination, he had study hall with Annabeth, Percy wondered what would he and Nico be doing today after Percy got out of football practice. He also wondered what his mom would be cooking for dinner. Reaching the library, Percy looked for the familiar head of blonde hair, spotting it just a few tables away. Making his way to Annabeth, Percy silently sat down in front of his friend and gave her a small smile in greeting as she looked up from her notes.

"Hey," he whispered, scooting closer to the table and Annabeth.

"Hey Perce," the blonde smiled at him, "so, how did it go with Nico di Angelo yesterday?"

"Really good," Percy smiled remembering the tutoring session and smiling a bit wider as he remembered how Nico had praised him, calling Percy smart and being impressed. It had actually meant a lot when Nico had said it, because not too many people actually did call Percy smart, only his mom, Paul, Annabeth, Kevin and Grover. Not to mention, Percy had it ingrained into his mind at being nothing but a dumb, stupid kid and that was due to his abusive ex-stepfather...Gabe.

"Really? That's good to hear, is he as smart as people say he is?"

"Definitely, and patient," Percy looked at Annabeth pointedly. "He called me smart..." he said quietly.

"Well why wouldn't he? You already know you are." Annabeth touched Percy's hand and squeezed it gently, "now, let's get into chemistry, you're passing with a low C, let's bring that grade up."

"I'd like to think of myself as being below average in chemistry and I don't think I could go above," Percy teased Annabeth, knowing she hated it when Percy tried to dumb himself down.

"Well I'd like you to think of yourself as being a bit above average." Annabeth smirked at him.

* * *

 

_Nico, Hazel, do excuse your father and I for not being home, and for once again, having to eat dinner by yourselves. A big funeral is taking precedence, and they have ordered flowers from my shop, extravagant might I add, not to mention your father needs help since they have also ordered catering. We hope to make it up to you, eat well and be safe. Go to sleep early and be good children. Enjoy the sunflowers -Persephone._

Once again, alone in this big, already empty house. Well, almost alone, Nico thought, he did have Hazel, who was due to be here any minute now. She would be upset once she reads the note, she never liked being so separated from the parents, even if whenever they  _did_ have family dinner, conversation was mostly stilted.

"I'm home," Hazel announced, walking into the kitchen, where it had become routine for the siblings since there was always a note to be found from Persephone on whether or not they would be home. "Hey Nico." Hazel greeted, kissing her brother on the cheek and brushing the hair out of his face.

"Hey Hazel," Nico smiled softly at his sister.

Hazel was a beautiful girl, with light brown, curly hair that was sometimes a bit too wild to tame with just gel yet it always looked good on her. She had brown eyes, so light that in certain lighting they looked almost golden, soft, mocha skin that was absolutely beautiful, and she was short, making her adorable. Hazel was a beautiful girl, with a very strong personality and an amazing artist, Nico was incredibly proud of his sister.

"Let me guess, they aren't going to be here for dinner...again," Hazel sighed heavily.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Well, at least you're going to be here with me, this is more than fine." Hazel took Nico's hand in hers, smiling at her brother.

"We can order Chinese food and watch a comedy movie?" Nico suggested, hoping to bring Hazel's spirits up.

"Sounds perfect, in the meantime, I've got an art project to work on for class, so I'll be in my room, wanna join me? You can do your homework with and help me with mine?"

"As much fun as that sounds, I can't, I'm tutoring again, but it's not until 5 so until then I'm free." Nico said.

"Okay, well until 5, you're going to hang out with me. Let's go."

4:30. Time had flown by once again and Nico started to put his things away so that he could prepare something for Percy again and have his things set up in the living room.

"Leaving already?" Hazel looked up from her art project.

"Yeah, I've gotta got some food out, he's coming out of football practice and he'll definitely be hungry." Nico looked over at his sister and chuckled, "you have red paint across your left cheek."

"Huh?" Hazel wiped her cheek with her hand, "oh. Thanks. Well, good luck with that. I'll be up here, slaving over this headache inducing art project due in three days," she whined.

"Well, it is advanced art," Nico muttered as he walked out of the room, he could hear Hazel groan as she continued to work on her project.

Getting things ready, and having the food set down on the coffee table, the brown eyed boy eyed the clock on his wall. Two more minutes and then Percy would once again be here. Nico briefly wondered how would Percy surprise him today with the poems Nico picked out, and the story. Five o'clock sharp, the doorbell rang, and Nico shot up to get to the door. Opening it up, he saw that it was starting to snow lightly and then he saw Percy, giving him a smile.

"Hey Nico," Percy greeted.

"Hey Percy, come in." Nico stepped aside as Percy went in, taking off his coat, then his sweater and hanging it up on the coat hangers off to the side of the entrance hallway.

The two boys walked to the living room and sat down on the big couch. Percy looked at the food on the coffee table, consisting of pasta, and fresh cooked chicken.

"This is for me?" Percy asked, looking at Nico.

"Yes."

"You cooked? You can cook?"

"Yes. I hope..you like it..." Nico had a light pink stain on his cheeks.

"You're awesome dude," Percy smiled at Nico, bringing the plate of food closer to him, "so, what are we going to be doing today?"

"We have two poems to read, and a story." Nico said, "I'll read you the first poem, it's short and I hope you like it."

"Do you like it?" Percy asked, interrupting Nico before he could begin.

"What?"

"What I meant was, the material you read to me, is it stuff you enjoy reading by yourself, outside of school?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Rad, okay, you can continue." Percy smiled at Nico.

Nico looked at Percy, wondering what brought up the question before shaking his head and looking down at the paper in his hands. "Okay, so the first poem I'm going to be reading is Fire And Ice by Robert Frost, who, in my opinion is an amazing poet." Clearing his throat, Nico began to read as Percy watched him, eating the food cooked for him and waiting for Nico's voice to carry over the quiet of the house.

_Some say the world will end in fire,_  
Some say in ice.  
From what I've tasted of desire  
I hold with those who favor fire.  
But if it had to perish twice,  
I think I know enough of hate  
To say that for destruction ice  
Is also great  
And would suffice.

Percy heard the soft voice of Nico reading the poem, heard the rise and fall, and he felt hypnotized by Nico's voice. The poem was amazing, Percy could agree with Nico on that but he couldn't shake the feeling that because Nico read it to him, it made the poem ten times better.

"So, what did you think?" Nico asked Percy, looking over the green eyed male.

"It was...beautiful."

"And what did you get out of it?"

"I feel like, when he says about the world ending in fire or ice, he's talking about...what we might do to end the world?" Percy looked at Nico, hoping to see some form of confirmation he was on the right track, but Nico was giving him a blank expression, obviously wanting to know what Percy truly thought of the poem. "Fire could be wars raging on...and ice could be...the greed of people? He also mentions hate, there's so much hate in the world, it could end the world...so much hate and not enough...love?"

"I really like that answer, I think the poem is smartly written, and I absolutely love this poem," Nico looked down at the poem he just read fondly. Percy couldn't help but stare at Nico, a small smile making its way on his face. "Your answer was very intelligent, I definitely liked it." The brown eyed boy smiled at Percy, making him blush at the compliment. "Onto the next one, which is a bit depressing...it's called The Yellow Paper by Dr. Earl Reum."

_Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines_  
he wrote a poem  
And he called it 'Chops'  
because that was the name of his dog  
And that's what it was all about  
And his teacher gave him an A  
and a gold star  
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door  
and read it to his aunts  
That was the year Father Tracy  
took all the kids to the zoo  
And he let them sing on the bus  
And his little sister was born  
with tiny toenails and no hair  
And his mother and father kissed a lot  
And the girl around the corner sent him a  
Valentine signed with a row of X's  
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant  
And his father always tucked him in bed at night  
And was always there to do it.

Nico's voice was soft once more, as he read the poem and Percy couldn't help but pay extra attention to him, liking the softness in his voice. Hearing it fall low or start to gradually get louder, the green eyed male just couldn't help but really listen in.

_Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines_  
he wrote a poem  
And he called it 'Autumn'  
because that was the name of the season  
And that's what it was all about  
And his teacher gave him an A  
and asked him to write more clearly  
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door  
because of its new paint  
And the kids told him  
that Father Tracy smoked cigars  
And left butts on the pews  
And sometimes they would burn holes  
That was the year his sister got glasses  
with thick lenses and black frames  
And the girl around the corner laughed  
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus  
And the kids told him why  
his mother and father kissed a lot  
And his father never tucked him in bed at night  
And his father got mad  
when he cried for him to do it.

_Once on a paper torn from his notebook_  
he wrote a poem  
And he called it 'Innocence: A Question'  
because that was the question about his girl  
And that's what it was all about  
And his professor gave him an A  
and a strange steady look  
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door  
because he never showed her  
That was the year Father Tracy died  
And he forgot the end  
of the Apostle's Creed went  
And he caught his sister  
making out on the back porch  
And his mother and father never kissed  
or even talked  
And the girl around the corner  
wore too much makeup  
That made him cough when he kissed her  
but he kissed her anyway  
because that was the thing to do  
And at 3 am he tucked himself into bed  
his father snoring soundly

_That's why on the back of a brown paper bag_  
he tried another poem  
And he called it 'Absolutely Nothing'  
Because that's what it was really all about  
And he gave himself an A  
and a slash on each damned wrist  
And he hung it on the bathroom door  
because this time he didn't think  
he could reach the kitchen

Nico finished reading and looked over at Percy, who sat there, a bit wide-eyed. "It's..." he slowly spoke, "a suicide poem..."

"Yes." Nico waited patiently for Percy to say something else.

"Wow...you were right, it is depressing..."

"Yes, it was. Honestly, I thought of reading this to you..." Nico frowned, "because I...really love this poem..." and that was the truth. This poem Nico had just read was not something he picked because of academic value but because he actually wanted Percy to see a peek of something the brown eyed boy loved. Why? Nico had no idea.

"It was an amazing poem," Percy shook Nico out of his musings, "thanks for sharing that with me." He smiled at Nico.

Nico blushed slightly, feeling a bit dizzy, "you're welcome, uh, let's read the next thing I have, it's a short story, horror by Edgar Allan Poe. You've heard of him right?" Nico asked Percy.

"Doesn't he have a poem called The Raven? I mean, he's the one that does all this...creepy shit right?" Percy asked the ravenette.

"Yes Percy, he is the one that does all of this creepy shit." Nico snorted.

"You know what I meant," Percy scratched the bridge of his nose, somewhat embarrassed. "You like him right?"

"Yes, I do, I find his stories to be a bit challenging to read but they're very amazing and could get my heart pounding," Nico smirked.

Percy licked his lips as he looked over at Nico, wondering if he would be able to understand this Poe dude.

"Okay, let's start." Nico said, and began to read.

The story seemed to drag on in Percy's opinion, and the writing seemed a bit ridiculous, not to mention hard to understand. This Poe dude wrote real old-timey wise and the words were awfully different and confused Percy. Man, the words he used were ridiculously big, in Percy's opinion, but he was starting to get the general idea of the story.

Nico finished the story, which by the way was not at all short, and looked at Percy, "certainly gets the heart racing when you think about it, a pendulum slowly descending upon you, bringing you to your death...eventually, but before that, you're stuck by yourself with only your thoughts. The narrator is given two choices and both those choices end in death and yet..." Nico hummed briefly, "so, what did you think."

"Well, the dude in the story, he says that...his senses are beyond him, meaning he can't feel or sense anything around him anymore, yet he goes right into detail describing his senses, and the dream or illusion of three judges before him, carrying out the sentence. The madness of his memories, the beating of his heart...and then he's describing his surroundings...and then the pendulum is just swinging down, the impending doom of his death...scary." Percy shuddered slightly. "I mean, he sees the pendulum swinging down, and he knows what's going to happen eventually, yet, he chooses to not give in to helplessness. He still has...hope, I guess, hope that he can escape his outcome of his sentence, which is dying..."

"And once again, you surprise me Percy Jackson," Nico shook his head, smirking, "with your very clever responses."

"You think me clever?" Percy grinned, "methinks you're pretty brilliant yourself, Nico di Angelo."

Nico blushed, looking down at the floor.

"Want to...hang out with me, sometime?" Percy asked slowly.

Nico looked up straight away and stared at Percy, "y-you want to hang out with me?"

"Yes, I do."

"Sure, I would very much like that."

"Perfect, well, tomorrow I don't have football practice, so I'll be over much earlier tomorrow, if we can you know, uh, study?" Percy looked to Nico for confirmation.

"Sure, I could have something ready for us tomorrow," Nico nodded his head.

"Awesome, and then after, we can go...I don't know to the arcade? Maybe play some video games?" Percy asked.

"Sounds like fun," Nico smirked.

"Rad, um, well, I'll talk to you tomorrow...um, hey, wanna...exchange numbers? I mean, if you want to...we don't have to if...if you don't want to."

Nico's brown eyes widened once he heard Percy wanted to exchange numbers, and his heart for some reason gave a small thump, as he heard Percy ramble off, Nico shook his head, before replying, "sure Percy, we can exchange numbers."

Giving the other boy his number, Nico walked Percy to his front door, "well, I'll see you tomorrow and I'll have something ready for us."

"Cool, I'll see you at school. Bye Nico."

"Bye Percy."


	5. Two Stories For The Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been awhile, I know but I hope you all enjoy this chapter here. The stories I use are called A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner and The Story Of An Hour by Kate Chopin.   
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

"How's the studying going?" Kevin asked Percy, glancing his way as they sat at a table in the library.

"Really, really good. I'm getting better at understanding what we read in class and I've already turned in, like three summaries and my grade's slowly rising up. I just need to work on the essay, turn it in and it'll definitely raise up my grade." Percy couldn't help but feel proud of himself and so grateful to none other than Nico di Angelo who was helping him.

"Awesome dude, that's super awesome." Kevin congratulated Percy.

"Thanks man, seriously, you gave me the idea and asked on my behalf, so thanks man."

"Ah, it was whatever, you're my bro Perce, of course I wanna help you out," the redhead blush at the sincere thanks thrown his way. "Anyway, Lou Ellen is throwing a sick party next weekend, you going?"

"Maybe, I'll have to see man, but Lou Ellen's parties are always rad, I don't wanna miss one," Percy shook his head.

"I'm uh..thinking about asking Sunny to go with me, to like, show up with me to the party..." Kevin said slowly, nervous.

"Really?" Percy questioned, "wow, dude you must really like her."

"I do man," the redhead smiled softly.

"How'd you meet her?"

"At Lou Ellen's Halloween Bash," Kevin smirked, "she was dressed as a gender bent Ash Ketchum, she looked super rad, especially with that mini skirt of hers."

Percy snorted, "dude, I should have remembered, you were totally talking to the chick all night."

"Yeah man, and then, I dunno, afterwards, we just continued to talk and it was nice and she was awesome..." Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "Look, I know it's weird for you to see me with her, I mean, I have a type and they're usua-"

"Girly and popular...and total bitches most of the time," Percy interrupted, "especially to you."

"Exactly, they're popular and girly and at times, bitchy but Sunny, I don't know, call me a sap but she was mad cool and different..."

"Hey dude, whatever makes up happy, do it." Percy laughed.

"Thanks," Kevin blushed slightly before clearing his throat, "anyway, chemistry is killer!"

"Tell me about it," Percy groaned.

* * *

 

_Children, we are sorry to once again inform you that we will not be present for dinner. Regretfully, there have been many deaths and so your father and I have been busy. We hope to make it up to you, be safe children. -Persephone_

Once Nico got home, he read Persephone's note and he went upstairs to his bedroom where he quickly got his papers and was about to bring them into the living room until he ran into Hazel and Frank, they had just come in and were getting their books out in the living room.

"Hey Nico," Frank greeted Nico with a warm smile.

Frank Zhang was an Asian guy, sweet and kind. He was big for his age, but he was a gentle giant. He had light brown eyes, black hair in a crew crop, and was the size of an ox, he was very muscular but Nico guessed that had something to do with him being on the football team as well, being on defense.

"Hey bro, I saw Persephone's note, sucks once again but hey, what can you do?" Hazel rambled on, until she looked at her brother and frowned slightly, "is everything okay?"

"Uh, what are you guys doing?"

"We're having a study session, Frank's grandmother was having a book club meeting thing so we couldn't go to his house." Hazel explained, "are you going to tutor again?"

"Yeah," Nico nodded his head in confirmation.

"I'm sorry, we could go somewhere else?" Hazel bit her lip as she looked to Frank who was already thinking of places to go.

"No, it's fine, I'll just...do it up in my room," Nico shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it won't be a problem." Right after he said that, the doorbell rang, and Nico felt his heart give a small thump as he walked to the door.

Opening it up, the brown eyed boy saw Percy standing in his doorway, behind Percy, it was once again, snowing. "Hey Nico." Percy smiled at him.

"Hey Percy," Nico gave him a small smile of his own as he ushered Percy in.

Walking into the living room, Percy was greeted by the sight of his teammate and Hazel, Nico's sister.

"Captain," Frank said, "what are you doing here?"

"It's cool Frank, you don't have to call me Captain, we're not in school or practice," Percy chuckled, "and I'm here because Nico is tutoring me...for English..."

"Sorry Cap," Frank winced, "force of habit."

"Hey Hazel," Percy waved at the girl who smiled in his direction.

"So you're the one Nico's tutoring," Hazel stated, glancing over her brother, and with a single eyebrow raised, she gave him a look that spoke volumes. It was as if Hazel was asking why the hell Nico wasn't flirting with Percy Jackson, captain of the football team, and who was a really attractive guy.

"Yep, okay, we all know each other now, we are going to be studying in my room, come on Percy." Nico said as he grabbed Percy by the arm and dragged him away.

"Uh, okay, nice seeing you guys, later," Percy called out to them.

Once in Nico's room, the brown eyed boy found he could breathe a bit easier. Percy looked around Nico's room, and saw that it was fairly big. Nico had a big bed, with black sheets, the comforter was a dark gray. The floor was dark wood, the walls a light burgundy red, off to the side was a desk with Nico's computer on it, and next to the desk was a smaller one that held the printer. On the other side, Percy saw Nico had a shelf filled to the brim with books, video games and movies. Next to the shelf was a full-body length mirror. In the center of the room, there was the TV with the cable underneath, a DVD player and a PS4. Next to the TV, flanking both sides were two doors, which Percy guessed either one led to a bathroom and a walk-in closet. All in all, Nico's room was cozy.

"Nice room," Percy commented as he turned around in full circle. He went up to the shelf that held the books and started to poke around.

"Thanks," Nico mumbled. That was when Percy noticed Nico labeled things, well, just the way his books, movies and games were set up. They were all arranged alphabetically, separated and sorted and underneath, it had A-C or G-I for every book, movie and game. He walked over to Nico's desk and saw that it had labels on the drawers as well, labels naming things inside the drawer or what was supposed to be there. Pens and Paper on one. School Books on another. It was like Nico had his own filing system...

The brown eyed boy studied Percy as he went about his room, his heart rate increasing and the ravenette was not exactly sure why? "You...label things..." Percy finally spoke. The green eyed male noticed the label maker on top of the desk and picked it up. He smiled fondly as he eyed the books, so many books. "You're such a..." Percy stopped and started to type something with the label maker before printing it out and going up to Nico.

The brown eyed boy's breathing hitched as Percy came up, extremely close to him and put something across his chest. The feel of Percy's warm fingertips sent a shiver down Nico's spine and he found his heart beat drumming inside his chest, looking down Nico saw that Percy had written one word with his label maker: Nerd.

"Yep," Percy smirked down at Nico, "you are a nerd," then proceeded to stick out his tongue.

Nico tried to glare at Percy but found he couldn't and he was actually smiling before he took his label maker out of Percy's hands before typing something on it and printing it out. "Well I think you are..." Nico stuck the word he printed out on Percy's sweater. "Dense."

Percy snorted as he read it. "Let's get started on our tutor session, that way we finish early and we can go out."

"Okay, so today, I am going to read to you two short stories."

"Are they actually going to be short this time?"

"Yes, you dense person." Nico teased.

Percy laughed out loud before he pinched Nico's nose, "come on nerd, let's get started."

The first story, started out flat-out boring Percy and he had somewhat zoned out. It was about a woman by the name of Ms. Emily who was old, fat and seemingly bitter and everyone in town seemed to hate her 'cause she smelled. Her father had been a hard-ass until he died and then she banged some dude. The townspeople were fickle as hell because for one thing they were glad she had someone in her life to make her, Percy thought, less bitter but then they got all tensed up because they banged and then he left... There was talk he was gay but no one confirmed. Then the dude came back and was never seen again. Then Ms. Emily closed herself off from the town, the only one she let in her home was some dude who was called the n-word a lot and seemed to be her servant.

Percy watched as Nico's eyes filled with some sort of light, his voice rising and falling with the momentum of the story. His eyebrows shot up to his head as he heard Nico say the n-word but knew it was due to the story. In the end, the bitter Ms. Emily died off and when the townspeople came knocking on her home, her slave went running never to be seen again. That was when they followed the stench that seemed to surround her house up to the top floor where they found the missing guy she banged. He was dead and had rotted over the years.

"Pretty funny, in a morbid sort of way, huh?" Nico asked as soon as the story finished.

"I guess," Percy shrugged his shoulders, in all honesty he only half liked it because Nico was reading it.

"Okay, how about we go on to the next story?" Nico suggested, somehow, the brown eyed boy thought Percy got the gist of the story.

"Okay."

This one seemed a bit more interesting. A woman with a weak heart had learned her husband had just been killed in a train wreck and was going through what seemed like grief until...it didn't seem that way anymore. Suddenly, this woman was whispering "free, free, free" under her breath and Percy thought something had cracked. Until he heard Nico read about how this woman wouldn't have to lie down and live her life for her husband but for herself. How she would not be told what to do, she would be able to do what she wanted. A lifetime of freedom...or so it seemed until she found her husband was in fact alive and not dead. Then, came the heart attack...the doctors had said she had died of heart disease - of the joy that kills.

That one made Percy smirk and when Nico looked up to him, his smirk got wider until it was a full on grin. Nico's eyes lit up once he saw that Percy had understood both stories, and smiled softly. Percy couldn't help the feeling he felt when he saw Nico smile, knowing  _he_ had caused it.

"I like that one better," Percy smiled at Nico.

"It's dark and ironic, isn't it?" Nico smirked.

"Yeah, it is." Percy rubbed the back of his neck, "what do you say we forgo going out and instead...watch a movie in your room?" Percy suggested, "it's cold, it's snowing, and yeah, I have my mom's car but, we could order out? My treat? I'll even pay for food for your sister and Frank? Me and you, we could stay in your room and watch whatever movie you decide to watch." Percy asked Nico, hoping he would say yes, not exactly sure why he wanted Nico to say yes. Not exactly sure why his heart was thumping like crazy inside his chest, not exactly sure why when Nico bit his lower lip, Percy was washed away by the amount of want to just grab those lips between his teeth and...

_Whoa, slow down there Perce, what are you thinking? Nico's been nice enough to tutor you, why would you even go there? Not to mention, you don't even know if Nico is in to guys._

Percy shook his head and concentrated back on Nico. "Well," he started, "it is a yucky day out..." biting his lower lip some more, Percy thought he was going to go mad if Nico didn't stop, Nico looked over at Percy, his hair falling in his dark eyes, and smirked his way. Did he know how much sex appeal he even had? "Sure, let's do it."

_Do it._

Not like sex do it either but it sure as hell sounded that way to Percy. Swallowing hard, Percy nodded his head. They settled for ordering pizza and Nico picked out a horror movie.

Going home, with his mother asking how his tutoring session went, Percy went straight to bed. Laying down, Percy thought back on today and why the hell couldn't he get Nico out of his mind. In the span of three days? four? Percy had gone from not knowing a thing about who Nico di Angelo was...to wanting to know everything there was about him. Not to mention, what was going on with Percy suddenly being interested in Nico, quiet, seemingly shy but knowing Nico just wasn't socially adept (he could be if the brown eyed boy wanted to) Nico who was crazy smart and really, really cute.

It wasn't as if Percy had anything against liking boys, if Percy had to explain to someone his sexuality he would say without hesitation that he was bisexual. Honestly, both girls and guys were pretty appealing to Percy. He honestly had no problem if he found out he had feelings for a guy. There had been one guy who Percy could honestly say he totally had a crush on...back when he was alive that is...Luke Castellan. Percy had been with two people in his entire life, Annabeth and another girl with which he had totally liked, a lot. So much so that he had lost his virginity to her, but they lost touch and well, drifted apart.

Other than that, Percy hadn't crushed on someone so hard, not since Luke and the other girl, and now, he was crushing on Nico. Sweet, cute, brilliant Nico who had a dark sense of humor most of the time and was a huge nerd and Percy meant that in the most endearing way possible.

Yeah, he was totally crushing on Nico di Angelo...now what?


	6. What Is It About You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, it's been hectic. Here's a new chapter and I hope you can all forgive me for taking so long.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Lips brushed against lips, breathless gasps and quiet moans filled the air as both bodies grinded against each other, their whole being filled with want and need. Spilling from pink lips, swollen from being kissed too hard, were pants and moans as the mouth begged for release. Percy felt hot, all over, his body burned with a desire to satisfy the hunger that was lust. Sea green eyes clashed with brown, raven hair was tousled, porcelain skin was being marked by Percy. And then...

...his alarm clock beeped.

And continued to beep until Percy groaned out loud before slamming his hand on it, silencing it for once and for all. Rolling on his side, the green eyed young man decided it was now or wait till his mother came into his room and berate him for not getting up for school. Half of his mind begged for the latter, since it meant that he would get more sleep.

Then, he remembered his weird dream, where Percy could have sworn it featured none other than Nico. His face flushed as he recalled the details, his dream slipping fast from him as the cobwebs of sleep started to wear off.

Lust. Want. Need.

God did Percy need to have Nico pinned under him and...

_No! Stop this! He probably doesn't even like you...in that way!_ His mind screamed. And yet, Percy found he couldn't stop thinking about him...

Getting up from his bed and walking to the bathroom, Percy found he was sporting a boner...time to take a cold shower.

...

Percy felt he had never been more grateful that his school building was so warm, it was February and the weather had dropped below 18, when the hell was Spring going to get here? Percy was freezing goddammit. Walking up to his locker, Percy's hands went on auto-pilot, looking and taking out books he would need for the rest of his classes before lunch. Closing his locker with a spin on his dial, he made his way to his class.

What he didn't expect was running into Nico, the star of his fantasy from the night before. The brown eyed boy stopped walking once he noticed it was Percy and gave him a small smile, which Percy couldn't help but give on in return. With a wave, they continued on their ways and Percy felt himself in a sort of a daze...

"Dude?"

"Perce?"

Percy looked into the worrying faces of Annabeth and Kevin. "Yeah?"

"You okay, man?"

"Yeah, you seem sort of out of it Perce," Annabeth observed as she in Percy's appearance.

"I'm fine." Percy tried to reassure them as best he could.

Maybe he wasn't exactly fine but really, his mind was more or less fixated on Nico di Angelo and what kind of spell he put him under. It was like Percy couldn't stop thinking about the adorable brown eyed boy and he didn't know why. Why couldn't he stop thinking about him?

"If you say so..." Annabeth continued to discern Percy.

* * *

 

_Children, your father and I have date night. After the long days of business, your father and I have decided to take a break and have a night out for the both of us. We are sorry we are, once again, not going to be home with you two tonight. Be good dears. -Persephone._

Typical. Once again, home alone. Not even Hazel would be around, at least not after 6 or 6:30.

 The brown eyed boy went up to his room and decided, he had two hours to kill until Percy came by, might as well make the most of it.

By 5 PM sharp, the doorbell rang, the living room had been set up and Percy had made his way to their usual spot for tutoring.

"So teach, what are we going to do today?" Percy teased Nico, who only rolled his eyes.

"We are going to read one story and one poem." Nico answered.

"Awesome, well, teach away Nerd," Percy winked at the brown eyed boy, who blushed up a storm before clearing his throat and beginning to read.

The story was about a woman who valued her beauty above everything and even though she was living a luxurious lifestyle, the woman, Mathilde, wasn't exactly poor either. Yet this very self-centered woman believed she had been born under the wrong household and wanted nothing more than a lifestyle filled with jewels, dresses, delicious food and no cares. Mathilde was really resentful of her life, as if it were even that bad.

One day, her husband comes home to tell her he got an invitation to an important party and at first, she's angry with him because all she think about is what she'll wear to the party, then saying she won't go...that is until she gets a proper dress. Once she gets the dress, Mathilde is once again whining about not having any jewels to compliment the dress until her husband suggests that she borrow some from her friend. Once at her friend's house, Mathilde sets her eyes on this necklace and asks if she can borrow it.

All night long, (this chick must've been a babe or else she wouldn't have gotten so much attention) she danced and ate and laughed and was noticed by all in her dress and the necklace. But once at home, she sees it's missing. Her husband and her look all over to find it but no such luck, until they look at jewelry stores. In one particular store, there is someone who is selling the exact replica of the necklace and the husband asks how much it is.

Apparently, it's way too much because the husband has to dig into his funds his father left him and then go around borrowing money until he has enough for the necklace. They get the necklace back in time and Mathilde and her husband worked for ten years straight to pay off their dues, with Mathilde losing her beauty, the thing she treasured the most. Ten years later, Mathilde sees the friend that lent her the necklace. Once saying the story to her friend, Mathilde blames her and then the friend reveals that the necklace was fake.

Talk about irony.

Percy chuckled as soon as Nico finished reading, "I'm guessing you liked it, huh?" Nico smirked up at him.

"Very much."

"Good." Nico smiled, "onto the next one."

_Having a coke with you  
__is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne_  
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Garcia in Barcelona  
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better, happier St. Sebastian  
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt  
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches  
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary  
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still  
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it  
in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth  
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles  
and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint  
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them  
I look  
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world  
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick  
which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time  
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism  
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or  
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me  
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them  
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank  
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully  
as the horse  
it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience  
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it

"Wow," Percy whistled in appreciation.

"Did you like it?" Nico asked.

"I did, very much, although the author of the poem certainly dragged on what point he was trying to get across, either way, it was very descriptive of the way he feels for the girl he loves, and I really liked it. It was sweet."

"It was for a guy..." Nico said quietly.

"What?"

"It was for a guy," Nico repeated, a bit loudly, "the poem," he elaborated, "by Frank O'Hara, he wrote it for a guy..."

Percy's eyebrows shot up, "oh...really?" He fumbled around, he didn't really expect the poem to be for a guy. "I never thought a poem could be done from one guy to another guy and have it published..."

"Oh, it happens," Nico nodded his head. "Do...do you mind that it was written for a guy?" Nico asked slowly, somewhat hoping Percy wouldn't mind.

"No, I don't mind...you like whoever you want to like, boy, girl, both, all...it doesn't really matter to me."

The brown eyed boy exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding and smiled a shy smile. "That's good...that you don't care about who people like..."

"What do you like Nico?" Percy suddenly asked the brown eyed boy, kinda putting him on the spot.

"Uh...what do you mean?"

"I mean, do you like guys or girls?" Percy looked at Nico, his eyes intense, searching the boy's face for anything that could give away the answer.

"Will you judge me...?" Came the quiet question.

"No. I won't."

"I...like guys..." Nico looked down, seemingly finding the floor much more interesting and some part of him wondered what was it to Percy, why did he want to know or care about what gender Nico liked? And because he was busy staring at the floor, he completely missed the wide grin that suddenly spread across the other boy's face before it became the smirk that was well-known.

"Well I like girls...and guys..." at that, Nico glanced over at Percy quickly, not sure if he heard correctly.

"You like both genders?" Nico asked, almost breathlessly because he couldn't believe that Percy Jackson actually liked guys...that didn't mean he was interested in Percy though.

"Yep."

"Oh." Nico nodded his head.

Silence ensued and Percy scratched the bridge of his nose trying to think of something to say. "Hey, I have an essay that needs to be done...and I could really use your help...if you don't mind?"

"No, I don't, I'm your tutor after all, right?"

"Yeah, awesome, so uh, wanna get started now?"

"Do you have anything to do? If you do, we can start tomorrow?" Nico asked the green eyed male.

"No, no, I've got nothing to do," Percy answered a bit too quickly, his heart pounding as Nico inched closer on the couch.

"We should go to my room, I have my computer up there, let's go." And with that, the brown eyed boy got up, gathering his papers and walked to the stairs that led to his bedroom, with Percy in tow.

"So," Nico started once they were in the room, "what kind of topic did you think of doing?" He asked as he turned on his computer.

"Um, I haven't exactly chosen one yet," Percy mumbled, looking over at Nico's bed and seeing the sheets all messed up. He felt the overwhelming need to just throw Nico on the bed and have his way with the brown eyed boy. What was happening to Percy? Not even with the girl before was he this desperate to get close to someone...tearing his eyes away from the bed, Percy looked over as Nico stood over his computer, slightly leaning over his desk, since he wasn't sitting in his chair. And because of the way he was leaning, Percy could see Nico's butt sticking out a bit.

"...oose a topic to do?" Nico was saying and he looked over at Percy who still had his eyes on Nico's ass.

"Huh?" Percy asked, quickly lifting his gaze to the brown eyed boy's face.

"I said, we can always look on the internet and choose a topic to do..." Nico studied Percy for a moment, "are you okay?" The brown eyed boy asked, wondering if the small confession Percy had given to Nico about him liking both genders had somehow thrown Percy off his game.

_No I'm not okay, dammit kid, can't you see what you're doing to me?!_ Percy's mind was screaming that on the inside, but on the outside, he smiled slowly, before replying, "no, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."

Nico stared at Percy a moment longer before shrugging his shoulders and turning back to the computer, "okay, if you say so. Come closer dude, you can't see the computer screen from there." He waved the green eyed male over.

"Okay," Percy found his voice sounding so calm and normal, while on the inside his heart was doing a fine impression of a staccato. Once he was next to the ebony haired boy, he felt a bit dizzy. He was so aware of how close he and Nico were, aware of every little motion Nico did, so aware o-

"Percy, we can do a topic about the future, if you want? About if scientists should continue exploring new planets?" Nico looked up at Percy expectantly, waiting to see what he would say. "Or if you want to be boring or generic...school uniforms?" Nico smirked.

"Uh...no, I don't want to be generic. Planets it is," Percy cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Awesome, we can get started on what points you want to get across," the brown eyed boy suggested.

"Sure, sounds good."

And so the rest of the afternoon was spent talking the pros and cons of space exploration, and whether or not the US should continue to explore other planets. All the while Percy was somewhat distracted by the fact that he was crushing on Nico, badly, and at how sudden the crush on the porcelain skinned male had gotten. It had thrown Percy for a curveball. He just couldn't figure it out...figure out why or what exactly he liked about Nico...

Before long, it had gotten dark, and Nico had leaned back in his chair, stretching out unused muscles. "Well, it's getting dark and it's cold, maybe we should continue this tomorrow?" Nico asked Percy.

"Yeah, sure," Percy got up and stretched his back, his arms going up and over his head so that he could stretch them out too. Because of the action, Percy's shirt had ridden up, showing Nico a bit of Percy's well-toned body and the small, black happy trail leading down...

Nico ripped his eyes away, no matter how hot that happy trail looked...his mind was still reeling about the fact that Percy liked both genders. He couldn't believe it...biting his lip, the brown eyed boy chanced a glance at Percy and saw him looking down at Nico, with acute interest. His sea green eyes were studying Nico intensely as if he were some sort of...puzzle. Before Nico could question Percy about it, he seemed to have snapped back into the present and turned around to leave out the door before he turned back to look at Nico.

It looked like he was about to say something but Nico had gotten up and was already making his way to his door, wanting to walk Percy out. Before he could even reach for his doorknob though, Percy suddenly grabbed Nico's wrist and slammed him against the wall next to the door. The brown eyed boy looked up , a bit worried about what was going on with Percy, and saw the heated gaze directed towards him. Those intense sea green eyes darkened, his pupils dilated.

"I don't know...what it is about you..." Percy whispered, his warm breath washing over Nico, making the smaller boy shiver, "...I can't figure it out. I can't figure you out." Percy seemed to have snapped out of it, because he soon pulled back. "I'll...I'll see you tomorrow," he said as if he were in half a daze.

Then, Percy was gone. He opened Nico's bedroom door, walked down the stairs and left. All the while Nico saw him leave, and didn't utter a word from the top of the stairs. It wasn't until he head Percy pull away that Nico sank down on the first step atop the stairs, and clutched his head between his hands, wondering, what the hell had just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story featured in this chapter was The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant and the poem is called Having A Coke With You by Frank O'Hara


	7. That's What I Like About You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because it's been so long since I last updated, I decided to be nice and update two chapters! Enjoy!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

What had that been last night?

What had that been last night?

What the hell had that been last night?

What had gone through Percy's mind that made him act in such a way (that had Nico's heart pounding inside his chest) that made him seem like he'd gone crazy?

Nico shook his head and decided to stop thinking about what happened last night when Percy left his home. Getting his books out, Nico closed his locker and turned to walk to class. Walking in a daze, he never noticed the person standing next to him, walking with him to class, studying him with interest. It wasn't until he was about to run into a wall, and the person's hand shot out to stop him, did Nico take notice.

"Whoa, you okay?" Sunny asked Nico as she steadied her friend.

"Uh...yeah," Nico lied, having gotten distracted.

"Uh-huh, and I'm the pope." Sunny frowned slightly, "dude, tell me what's wrong."

The brown eyed male looked up at Sunny and winced slightly, thinking whether or not he should tell her what happened yesterday with Percy. Debating on what he should do, Sunny tapped Nico's shoulder impatiently, silently asking what was wrong. Heaving a sigh, Nico closed his eyes briefly before opening them and looking at his friend directly in the eyes, "yesterday...Percy was acting weird..." He started off slowly.

"How weird?" Sunny raised a single eyebrow.

"He...when I-" Nico paused, knowing he'd have to go to the beginning to explain the events that happened yesterday, "see, yesterday Percy came over to study as usual, but the living room was being occupied by my sister and her boyfriend, so we went up to my room. It got late, and I told Percy I'd help him with the topics of his essay, which I am now helping him with, the next day. After a moment, Percy and me we just...stood quiet until he moved to leave before turning around to look at me. I got up, wanting to walk Percy out when suddenly, he slammed me against the wall and looked at me...and he just said, "I don't know what it is about you. I can't figure it out, I can't figure you out" and then he said he would see me the next day before leaving and I don't know what to do Sunny, I'm slightly freaking out! What should I do?"

"Whoa, Nico, pause for a moment, just...just wait a sec, lemme work this out in my brain..." Sunny puffed out her cheeks as she processed what Nico had just told her. "Okay, so Percy slammed you into a wall, and asked what it was about you that he couldn't figure out?" Nico nodded his head, "so...then, what exactly does he mean about that?"

"I don't know, although I'd like to know but I don't and...he's coming over today Sunny, what am I going to do?" Nico asked, desperation seeping into his voice, "I...don't want things to be awkward between us..." he bit his lip.

"The only to do is to confront the problem head on, when he comes over, ask him what he meant yesterday and don't take no for an answer, tell him you won't budge until he tells you what he meant." Sunny hoped the advice she was giving Nico would actually help him.

"What you're telling me kind of goes against what I actually want to do..." Nico scratched the back of his head.

"Which is?"

"Run. And run fast. And don't stop running until I've reach...I don't know, Antarctica?"

"Oh god, you wuss," Sunny rolled her eyes at her friend, "you will go home and wait for Percy and when he gets there, you ask him what the hell happened to him yesterday and that he better not tell you it was nothing because you won't believe him. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

* * *

 

Percy sat down abruptly at his usual table for lunch, gaining curious glances thrown his way by both Annabeth and Kevin. Ignoring the obvious silent questions his friends were asking through facial expression, he took out his cell phone and looked over Nico's contact. What the hell had come over him yesterday, was something Percy was not so sure of. Still, he knew for a fact he definitely owed Nico an explanation for his actions, but the green eyed young man was just as confused himself.

"Perce?" Annabeth finally spoke up, "are you okay?" He looked up and into the concerned yet analyzing gray eyes of Annabeth Chase who had been his best friend for so long, she could read him like a book. "Something's wrong and you're not going to tell me otherwise, so it'd be easier if you just came clean." And there it was. There is showed exactly how Annabeth knew him better than he knew himself.

Percy sighed heavily, knowing he couldn't get away with a stupid lie now, it was time to come clean to his friends. With reluctance, he began to explain to them his feelings for a certain brown eyed boy with black, shaggy hair that was forever messy, and porcelain skin. He began to explain how these feelings came to be, and how fast they were growing, and how this all scared him. Annabeth and Kevin sat quietly, never once interrupting him and listened carefully, knowing they'd have to guide Percy through this.

...

To say that waiting for Percy was nerve-wracking was an understatement, Nico was so wired, when his phone vibrated on the table it was on, it seemed like the brown eyed boy jumped three feet in the air. Of course that was an exaggeration but all the same, Nico was tense and stressed. Picking up his cell phone and looking at the screen to see who was calling him, it was Hazel, he swiped right to answer.

_"Hey bro,"_ came Hazel's easy-going and calm voice.

"Hey sis, what's up?"

_"Not much, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to go to movies today with Frank and I'll be home later, okay?"_

"Sure, sounds good, have fun." Nico smiled softly.

_"Thanks, and what about dad and Persephone?"_

"They're working until late tonight so, again, we'll be by ourselves." Nico huffed out, he heard Hazel's heavy sigh at the other end of the line.

_"I figured as much, anyway, I'll see you later okay? Bye, love you."_

"Okay, love you too, bye."

With that, he hung up the phone and once again place it on the coffee table. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:30, how had the time passed by so quick, was beyond him. It seemed like not ten minutes ago, Nico had just gotten home, sat down in the living room and thought about what was going to happen once Percy got there. Had the raven haired boy really sat there, alone in his living room, for two hours and a half straight, just thinking and conjuring up a bunch of different scenarios in which a green eyed, handsome young man starred in that could possibly never happen? And the answer was yes, yes he had.

So lost in his thoughts was Nico, that when the bell suddenly rang, he really did jump to his feet. Looking back at the clock he noticed it was only 4:35, only five minutes had passed and yet...the bell had rung meaning that it was Percy who had rang the doorbell because it couldn't possibly be anyone else, since Nico wasn't expecting anyone else. With as much bravery as he could muster, Nico slowly made his way to his front door, where he could tell Percy was waiting for him to answer, patiently. Opening up the door, he saw a head of black, windswept hair looking down at the ground, as if finding it fascinating.

Clearing his throat had gotten Percy's attention because soon enough those sea green eyes of his were trained on Nico and he felt himself almost drown in them. Looking away with a faint blush, Nico cleared his throat once more, "so, are you going to stay outside my door and become a statue or are you going to come inside?"

Cracking a small smile, Percy answered, "I'm coming inside, being a statue's not my thing."

Entering the empty house, Percy and Nico walked over to the living room and sat down on the couch, neither boy talking as an air of tension and awkwardness filled it. Percy looked over at Nico, who was busy studying his hands and the green eyed young man wanted nothing more than to hold them in his own hands. Clearing his head, Percy focused on what he came to do, and that was to explain to Nico his actions of the night before.

"So can I ask...what the hell happened yesterday?" Nico beat Percy to it, asking him right off the bat was wrong between them. "You...you acted weird and then...you said those things to me, w-"

"I'm sorry," Percy interrupted, knowing he would lose his nerve if he let Nico continue talking, he had to say what he had to say right then and there, otherwise the moment would pass him by and he would end up not saying anything. "I know, I acted weird and I know what I said but I meant what I said."

Nico looked at Percy, confusion evident on his face, "what do you mean by that?"

"What I meant was..." Percy took a deep breath before continuing, "I...I don't know how, but I...I like you Nico," his intense sea green eyes focused solely on Nico, as if only seeing him, as if seeing him for the first time. Taking in Nico's features, in that moment, spouting out his confession, Nico looked absolutely gorgeous. "I like you, I like you more than a friend," Percy found the courage to go on, not caring if Nico felt the same about him but just needing to tell to truth because he couldn't lie to himself anymore and he didn't want to.

"I like you, and I don't know how it happened or even why and I don't care because I like you. And that's what I meant, I can't figure you out, I can't figure it out, what it was about you that just...brought me closer to you, all I know is that I like you. You might not feel the same way about me as I do about you, but I can't deny the way I feel, not about you and I don't want to deny the way I feel. I like you and that's that...I guess..." Percy played with a loose string on the couch, not being able to look up at Nico, not wanting to feel the backlash of rejection which was bound to happen.

The silence stretched on and even though Percy desperately wanted Nico to say something, anything, he was unable to force himself to look up. Nico on the other hand was frozen solid where he sat, unable to completely comprehend what exactly Percy had just said to him. Percy liked him. Percy... _liked_ him. Percy had feelings for  _him._ That was the reason of why he was acting weird in the first place. It was because he liked Nico. The brown eyed boy looked over at his companion and couldn't help the small, shy smile that split across his face when he thought about how Percy kept rambling on, saying how he liked Nico, as more than a friend.

The brown eyed boy couldn't help the fast thump of his heart from slowing down, he couldn't help the blush that spread across his pale cheeks, he couldn't help the million of butterflies that fluttered inside his stomach and frankly, he didn't want it to stop because that meant he would stop feeling the joy he felt once Percy told him he liked Nico.

"Nico?" Percy called to him, quietly, now dreading the silence that engulfed them.

"Percy," Nico replied just as softly.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"I like you too."

Wide green eyes turned to clash with brown, "you do?"

Grinning at Percy, Nico nodded his head, "yes, I do."

Percy's face broke out into a smile that looked so much better than the somber look he had on mere seconds ago, "c-can I...kiss you? Please?"

Nico's eyes widened briefly, before he came in close to Percy's face, taking hold of Percy's front shirt and smashed their lips together. Lips clashed against lips, and Percy found his hands wandering up and down Nico's body, slowly, exploring his body. The kiss was slow and lazy yet with a burning passion behind it. Nico's hands wound themselves in Percy's unruly and messy hair, gripping it tight when Percy stuck his tongue inside of Nico's mouth. Bringing the smaller boy closer, Percy rested his hands on Nico's hips, massaging them as he continued his assault on the brown eyed boy's lips. The need for air broke the apart and Nico rested his forehead against Percy's, his eyes closed and his heart beating like a drum.

Percy kissed Nico's nose, unable to fully believe that that had just happened, that it hadn't actually been a figment of his imagination. That he had actually kissed Nico and that he had responded, it seemed surreal and yet, the fast beating of his heart told him otherwise. Nico opened his eyes and looked straight into Percy's, a million questions started to float around in his head, but the most prominent one being, what now?

"So what happens now?" Nico voiced his worry.

"Now, we get to know each other, as friends, I want to know more about you Nico...I want to take you out on dates...if you'll let me?" Percy breathed in deeply.

"I...yeah, I want to...know more about you too. I want to be your friend and I want to be able to get to know you as a friend...I want to date you Percy, I..." and because Nico was never really good at expressing himself through words, he decided to kiss Percy once more, and tried to convey all of his feelings into that one kiss, hoping Percy would get it.

Percy felt the desperation in the kiss of what Nico had meant, and he had understood just fine what Nico wanted from this as well, so with that in mind, not to mention the tension had long faded away, Percy kissed Nico back, with just as much emotion. Once they pulled back, Nico looked down at the floor, his face was flushed pink and he felt a bit shy at the moment. Percy couldn't help but laugh, and bringing Nico close to him, he wrapped one arm around his shoulders, before kissing the top of his head.

"Great, we are dating now, not exactly boyfriend and boyfriend but we'll get there. Now, tell me all about your life, well, as much as you want to share with me, we can go at your pace if you want?" Percy suggested.

"Okay, I'll tell you about my life, just as long as you tell me about yours."

"Deal." Percy smiled down at Nico, who was looking up at him. "I would've done it anyway, just 'cause I like you so much."


	8. The Start Of Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter to this story! And the one after this one is in the works so expect a new chapter soon...hopefully  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

When Nico woke up that morning before school, the first thing that came rushing back was the fact that yesterday, he had kissed Percy. And after that, Percy was okay with just wanting to be friends, Percy wanted to know more about him and didn't mind going at Nico's pace. Yesterday, after he kissed Percy, right there in his living room, Nico had opened up to Percy, well as much as he was willing to share in one night to Percy.

Nico had told Percy about how lonely his house would get sometimes and because his parents were always working he had felt alone, even if Hazel was there. Nico and Hazel both felt alone. Percy talked about his mom being married to some jackass before meeting his other stepfather named Paul, and even though Percy hadn't gone into detail about the asshole named Gabe, the brown eyed boy could tell that it bothered Percy a lot.

Talking the whole afternoon all the way until it reached 8 PM, Percy left, with Nico mildly panicking about not doing the essay they were supposed to be working on. Percy laughed it off, reassuring Nico that he'd work on it a bit when he got home and they could reschedule doing the essay another time. Before Percy left, on his motorcycle despite the coldness that invaded the air last night, he asked Nico out on a small date the next day after practice. To which of course, the ravenette agreed to, and with a small smile on his face, Nico went to sleep.

Turning off the shower, Nico dried himself off with his towel and got out a set of clothes for today. Checking the weather for today, with it being 18 degrees out and bound to get even colder since the wind was not yielding it's onslaught, Nico thought it'd be best to dress warm. Wearing his black, warm wool sweater over a light gray t-shirt and dark jeans, and tying up his black converse, Nico made his way downstairs to fix himself and Hazel breakfast. Entering the kitchen, he decided to make pancakes with bacon and scrambled eggs, feeling a bit giddy today at the prospect of going out with Percy later on.

Making his way to school, Nico stopped by his locker and took out his necessary books for the next few classes, shutting his locker closed and spinning the dial, he made his way to the staircase where Sunny and Will walked up to him and started to walk beside him. The pair seemed to be in a heated discussion about some movie Sunny had fallen in love with a few years back and had tried to make both him and Will see it, although neither boy did seeing as how it looked like a chick flick.

"It's a dumb movie," Will scoffed before turning to Nico, "hey dorko, what's up?"

"Blondie," Nico snorted as Will glared at him lightly.

"You haven't even seen it and yet, you're judging it!" Sunny exclaimed, "hey Neeks."

"Hey Sunny."

"I don't need to see it, I saw the trailer and that was enough."

"I am telling you that it is a good movie." Sunny argued.

"Whatever, I'm not going to see and I don't even know why you're so adamant on me and Nico watching it," Will shrugged his shoulders.

"Let me guess," Nico started, "is this about  _that_ movie?"

"Yep." Will answered.

"Oh come on, it's really cute, funny, smart and I want you guys to see it because seeing this movie is like...seeing The Breakfast Club or Pretty In Pink, Sixteen Candles, Can't Buy Me Love, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off! This movie is like a must see!"

"Don't compare that movie with any of the greats," Will gasped, "that's blasphemy!"

"What's blasphemy is neither of you giving this movie a chance!"

"Whoa," a new voice suddenly cut in, and three pairs of eyes turned to the newcomer to see that it was none other than Kevin, "what's going on over here?" He asked with mild curiosity, before looking over at Sunny, "hey Sunshine." He winked at her, making her blush briefly before turning back to Will and Nico.

"What's going on is that your  _Sunshine_ has been trying to get me and Nico to watch a stupid movie." Will looked over at Sunny.

"It's not a dumb movie." Sunny defended.

"Well, what movie is it?" Kevin asked.

"It's called Clueless." Sunny answered.

"Never heard of it," Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

"What?!" Sunny exclaimed. "Oh, we are so watching it, today after school or...after practice."

Kevin smirked at the black haired girl mischievously , "so Sunshine, is that a date?"

Sunny sputtered for a moment as a pink tint started to make its way on her face that had Will giggling and Nico smirking at her, "I..." she fumbled before turning around and walking the other way, with Kevin chasing after her.

* * *

 

"So we talked and well, he asked me out on a date today after practice," Nico shrugged his shoulders.

"Nice man," Will smiled at him, "that's awesome."

"Yeah dude, congrats," Sunny wiggled her eyebrows at Nico. "So now what?"

"Now what, what?" Nico asked.

"I mean like how do you feel about him?" Sunny elaborated.

"Yes, I do like him a lot," Nico mumbled, a blush starting to spread across his cheeks.

"But is it just physically that you like him?" Will asked, "because no doubt, physically, Percy is a stud, but what about emotionally or...is it too early to start thinking about the emotional side to this?"

"I...I don't know...I guess I'd have to see how it is being with him..." Nico nodded thoughtfully.

"Well hey dude," Sunny touched Nico's hand briefly, "don't worry so much about it, the emotional attraction will come later, probably in a few days or so right now it's all about the physical attraction."

"Well, what if the emotional attraction doesn't come?" Nico asked, somewhat getting paranoid, "what if me and Percy are too...different?"

"Opposites attract," Sunny said, "just look at how well it works out in chemistry between protons and electrons."

"Sunny's right, don't overthink it Nico, just do." Will offered a smile as he gave his two cents.

Sighing heavily, Nico nodded with a small smile, "thanks guys."

...

"...so now Sunny and me are going to spend the afternoon at her place and watch the movie she was talking about with Blondie and you're little Nerd," Kevin teased Percy who was in the middle of drinking his soda.

Choking a bit, Percy glared at Kevin who was snickering behind a hand. "Fuck off man," he shook his head, a smirk splitting across his face.

Soon enough the pair were joined by their blonde friend. "Hey guys," Annabeth greeted them easily as she started to dig into her lunch.

"Hey Annie," Kevin teased which earned him a deadly glare from the blonde.

"Hey Wise Girl, what's up?" Percy chuckled as he saw Kevin briefly pale before regaining his composure.

"Not much except that in two days I am going to be in a super important debate regarding the budget cuts from the school board, did you guys hear that they want to take out the culinary program, the art program and the dance program?"

"Yikes," Kevin scratched the back of his head, "and you're going to be fighting the school board or somethin'?"

"I will be debating, yes, hopefully I rally enough supporters to join my cause, a lot of people are going to attend as well, you two should come."

"This Saturday right?" Percy asked, taking a bite from his hot dog.

"Yes and Percy, please don't talk with your mouth full." Annabeth frowned.

"Sorry, anyway, yeah, I'll come, sounds interesting." Percy said.

"Yeah, me too, might bring Sunny along since she's pretty into things like this." Kevin said sheepishly.

"Nice, thanks guys," Annabeth smiled at the two boys, "I'm going to be asking more people to come, like Jason, Piper, Reyna, Grover, Juniper and...oh! Percy, you should ask Nico to come along as well," Annabeth turned her gray eyes on her friend. "He would probably like that!"

"Yeah, sure, I'll ask him..."

"By the way, how are things going?" Annabeth asked.

"Um, they're good, I asked him out on a date today after practice and I told him I like him and I want to get to know him better as a friend and I want to date him..." Percy rambled on, somewhat nervous about the whole thing because he really, really liked Nico.

"Awesome man," Kevin congratulated him, "that's cool."

"Yeah..." Percy made an effort to smile because something had kept him up all night last night. He had not doubt that he had feelings for the brown eyed boy but...what would his teammates think of him? He was not afraid of his sexuality, but the thing was, that there were a few homophobic guys on the football team and Percy seriously didn't want any conflict. Not to mention he'd have to also let his teammates on the baseball team know about this...

"You don't sound super excited," Annabeth looked at Percy with acute interest, already knowing what was wrong before Percy could voice his fear. "You're worried about the team, right?"

Sighing heavily, Percy looked down at the table, his food forgotten as he nodded his head in defeat. "Yeah."

"What's up with the team?" Kevin asked.

"I just..." Percy started only to cut himself off, "Kev, there's a lot of homophobes on the team and...I just don't want to start any problems. I mean, I'm the quarter back and if they can't work with me..." Percy sighed in frustration, "I just...I don't want to hide my relationship with Nico if we ever get to that point but I don't want to start anything with the team either and I definitely don't want them to start pickin' on Nico either. I don't know what to do...not to mention I gotta deal with the baseball team..."

"Perce, you gotta be straight up and tell the team...s about your relationship with Nico, and ask for there to not be any problems," Annabeth suggested, "try talking to them, besides, you're the captain on two..." Annabeth frowned slightly before she smirked. "Why the hell are you so involved?"

Percy looked into gray irises and smiled widely, talking with Annabeth seemed to lift his spirits up, "thanks Wise Girl." He chuckled hearing that last comment.

"And I'll have your back like always dude," Kevin patted Percy on the shoulder.

"Thanks man."

* * *

 

"Do...do you think he'll like this?" Nico asked Sunny and Will for their opinion, both of his friends were over at his house, helping Nico pick out an outfit for the date.

"Hm..." Will assessed Nico before saying, "turn around."

Nico did as he was told. Currently he was wearing light jean skinnys with a red band t-shirt and red converse, over his shirt he wore his black hoodie. Once he stopped turning around he faced his friends and asked them silently for their opinion.

"I think you look good, when you turned around those jeans showed off your ass, which is great," Sunny smiled cheekily as Nico's cheeks filled with color.

"I agree here too, nice ass, everything looks good, let's work on your hair," Will started before he turned to Sunny, "Sunshine, would you do the honors?"

"I'd be honored," Sunny replied with a haughty accent before going over to Nico and fixing up his messy hair. Nico felt her fingers rake through his ebony locks, parting his hair this way and that, stepping back every few seconds or so, a contemplative look on her face before she went back into the fray. Finally, when she seemed satisfied enough, she stepped back with a small smile on her face. "There, all done. Wanna take a look?" She asked Nico who nodded his head at her.

He walked over to his full body mirror and looked at himself. Nico still looked like himself, with the same pale skin, the same dark circles under his eyes, he knew they would never go away and the same lithe body but something about him seemed different. Maybe it was the fact that he was going on a date and that someone was actually attracted to him but he could have sworn he seemed to be glowing. His face seemed a bit more happier, even if it didn't exactly show with facial expression, his eyes were alight. Sunny did his hair in a way that had a lot of it off to one side messily and seemed forever to constantly struggle to go back to the side it was normally on but at the same time having to accept being parted to the other side and staying there, the other side looked smaller and yet, he had to admit it looked good. He'd have to constantly run his hand through his hair to make it stay but that was manageable.

"Do you like what you see?" Will asked, stepping up behind him.

Looking up at Will's reflection in the mirror behind him, Nico smiled softly before nodding his head.

"Well, the wind has stopped blowing for awhile now, tonight seems like it's going to be a less colder than how it's usually been, the weather thought to give us a break...tonight's going to be better than it was earlier," Sunny started, looking down at her phone, "March is approaching of course in like two days...so a very warm coat should suffice..."

"Not to mention it's..." Will turned to look at the clock on Nico's wall, "...4:45, he should be here soon, so me and Sunny here will be taking our leave, call us after you're done!"

"Good luck Nico!" Sunny called as she was ushered out by Will, and with that, Nico was left with his thoughts as he waited patiently for Percy to get there.

At exactly 5 PM, the doorbell rang throughout the house and Nico, on legs that trembled, went downstairs to answer it. Opening the door, he found Percy standing there, hands stuffed deep in the pockets of dark jeans, on his feet were black Nikes and he was wearing a black coat with a dark gray beanie sitting on his head. Nico could smell the faint smell of old spice on Percy, deducting that Percy must have showered before coming to pick Nico up.

"Hey Nico," Percy said almost shyly, not like his usual confident self.

"Hi Percy." Nico answered with a shy smile, happy to see that Percy was just as nervous as he felt.

"Ready to go?" The green eyed male asked Nico as they stepped down Nico's stairs and made their way to the street.

"Yeah, where are we going?" Nico asked Percy.

"I thought we'd eat at Houlinhan's and maybe...go to an arcade?" Percy asked Nico, who nodded his head.

"Sounds awesome can't..." Nico's words died in his mouth as he noticed they had made their way towards a black, dangerously looking motorcycle. "What's that?" Nico's voice trembled and he berated himself because, duh, it was a motorcycle. "I...I meant..."

"It's my motorcycle," Percy replied easily.

"Uh...are we going on that thing?" Nico squeaked.

Percy looked over and chuckled softly, relax, I know how to ride it."

"The risk of injury while riding a motorcycle is seven times higher than-" Nico started only to be interrupted.

"Look, I know how to drive a motorcycle, I learned when I was fifteen, and you'll be perfectly safe with me," Percy smiled reassuringly. "Now c'mon Nico, look I even brought you a helmet." Percy unhooked a red helmet from the other side of the bike and handed it to Nico, while he strapped on his own black helmet. "I'll go slow if it makes you feel any better?"

Percy chuckled when he noticed Nico was struggling with the straps and helped him adjust them so that the helmet wouldn't slide down his head before going to his bike and getting on. Swinging a leg over his bike, Percy checked the grip on the handles and checking how much fuel it had. Nico clumsily got on behind Percy, almost slipping off before gripping Percy's shoulders for balance.

"You okay?" Percy asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, feet go there," Percy pointed out to Nico, "and don't take them off unless I'm stopped. Don't touch the exhaust pipe or muffler unless you want a second-degree burn. Lean when I lean. Now, you're gonna need to hold on," Percy commanded. Nico listened carefully and placed his feet where Percy had told him to before holding onto his shoulders, like Percy had said. Percy kicked the bike to life, the sudden roar of the motorcycle startled the brown eyed boy before getting used to the motor's purr. Percy smirked as he shouted over the rumble, "You're gonna need to hold on tighter than that." He paused and felt Nico tighten his grip on his shoulders. Percy snorted, "Around the waist, nerd." He teased. Nico's cheeks heated up as he obeyed, placing his arms around Percy's midsection. Kicking the stand back up, Percy turned the front wheel manually and rolled out of the parking space before hitting the gas.

Nico was in awe and yet scared shitless, tightening his grip on Percy as he sped down the road.  _This is slow?_ The brown eyed boy thought. Everything passed by in a blur, closing his eyes, he wished the ride was over. With the wind whizzing by, Nico felt Percy somewhat laugh briefly and Nico tightened his grip even more when they passed over a small bump.

"C'mon Nico, don't be so scared," Percy yelled over the loud rumble as they sped past a street of houses that were more modern. "Don't close your eyes, you'll miss the experience."

Nico begrudgingly took Percy's advice and slowly opened his eyes. He looked over Percy's shoulder and saw what he saw, the blur of cars they passed by, the trees blending in together. He looked down at his arms around Percy's waist and decided that riding a motorcycle with someone else, was very intimate. With that thought in mind, he decided to focus on something else, like the fact that despite it being scary, riding a motorcycle, it was turning out to being...kinda fun. Soon enough, Percy slowed down until he reached the parking lot of the restaurant they were going to.

Percy turned the bike off and took off his helmet, Nico mimicking his actions before having the helmet in his hands. Percy got off the bike and stepped back before grabbing the second helmet and hooking it up to the second pouch on the bike. "Did you like the ride?" Percy asked as Nico tried to get off only to stumble as he did, to which Percy grabbed Nico by the shoulder to steady him.

"Um, yeah, it was actually...pretty fun," Nico looked up at Percy, smiling.

"Awesome, sorry it was so cold the ride over here..." Percy rubbed the back of his neck as they started towards Houlinhan's.

"It's okay, I'm wearing a warm coat and sweater." Nico reassured him.

Once inside, Percy asked for a table for two and they waited two minutes before being seated. The inside of the restaurant was very nice and cozy and seemed to be very private, or at least it gave the illusion of being private. The floor was wooden throughout, the walls were a dark green, almost olive color, in the center there was a bar where it had almost five TVs. Music was playing all around, mostly sounding like indie pop or rock. Following the hostess, they were seated at a two person table and given menus.

"Wow, this place is...pretty cool," Nico breathed out as he continued to look around.

"Yeah, I love coming here, the nachos are amazing," Percy gave the brown eyed boy a lopsided grin.

"So what do you recommend?" Nico smirked.

"Um...well, the burgers are really good but then...uh," Percy fumbled, Nico had given him a smirk that sent a shiver through his body.

Nico's smirk only got a bit wider, "I'll get a burger if you say they're good."

...

"Okay," Nico laughed, "so...how many teams are you on? Like five?"

Percy laughed then, "no, no way, I'm only on the football and baseball team but I also like to play soccer and swim, I'm a really good swimmer but unfortunately that's the one thing our school doesn't have."

"So you're practicing afterschool each day for...football?"

"Yeah but also baseball. I have two coaches, Coach Hedge is for football and he assists for baseball but the main coach for baseball is Coach Bruce. I practice football for one hour and then go straight to practice for baseball, whatever I miss earlier for baseball I make up for it by going to practice on Saturday."

"Oh, okay," Nico nodded his head in understanding. "So that's why you come out at 5."

"Yep."

"But why are you practicing for football when the season is over?"

"Coach Hedge just doesn't want the football players to lose their edge, we even practice one month before school starts," Percy replied.

"Wow, that's dedication." Nico whistled lowly in appreciation.

"Yeah."

"So baseball season is in full swing huh?" Nico asked as he took his last bite of his bacon cheeseburger, which was super delicious.

"Yep, our first game for the season is at the beginning of April."

"Cool."

"Yeah...you...should come to my games..." Percy said slowly, a pink tint making its way to his cheeks.

Nico looked up at him then and smiled softly, "I don't know the first thing about baseball..."

"I could...teach you?" Percy suggested, looking deep into brown orbs.

Nico smirked then, "okay."

* * *

 

The ride back home was less scary. After they ate, they went straight to the arcade and played a few games, Percy even tried the claw machine but of course he won nothing and instead wasted money on the thing. Overall, it was a fun date. Once they had reached Nico's house, Percy walked Nico to his front door.

"I had a lot of fun." Percy started, looking down at his feet.

"Me too," Nico said shyly.

"Wanna...go out again?" Percy asked him.

"Sounds good."

"Rad." Percy nodded his head before looking up at Nico, "can I kiss you?"

"Yeah."

With a chaste kiss on the lips, Percy waved goodbye and walked back to his bike, with Nico feeling a thousand butterflies fluttering around inside his stomach.


	9. Distractions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am so terribly sorry for not updating this story in a really long time, but here's a new chapter even though I'm not entirely happy with how it came out. Hope you guys like it and again, sorry for the late wait.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Shampooing his hair, Percy massaged his scalp, all the while he let his mind roam free. His grades for English had definitely improved over the course of the weeks he spent with Nico tutoring him. Football practice was getting to be torturous, coach Hedge was really breaking the team down and coach Bruce wasn't any better. Percy ran his hair under the shower head and ran his fingers through his hair _._

_Nico looked extremely cute that night we went out on a date..._

Man, that essay he had handed in to Mr. Burnt had taken a while to actually finish, never had Percy ever  _not_ bullshitted his way through an essay. This had been the first time he had actually taken the time to look at the topics Nico had given him and researched them. Handing in his essay, Percy had felt some sort of sense of pride at knowing he had completed the essay and had a good feeling he was going to get a good grade on it.

_And when he smiled...goddamn..._

The sea green eyed male ran a bar of soap over his body and thought about painting his bike a different color.  _She's been black for a year now..._ He thought as he lathered himself off. He thought about painting his bike a dark navy blue color, maybe a dark forest green.

Those big brown eyes. That soft, pale skin...

_Maybe Bella didn't need to be repainted...maybe she should just stay black..._ Percy thought after imagining his beautiful Bella in another color.

Black. Black reminded Percy of ebony hair...so dark, like midnight.

_Wonder what Kev's gonna be doing today..._

That cute and tight little ass...

Holy fuck, he couldn't get Nico out of his head. What was the kid doing to him?

Before Percy knew it, his hand had already gone down to wrap around his shaft and he started to stroke himself as images of Nico came to the forefront of his mind. Pink lips that were so kissable, dark brown eyes that seemed endless, porcelain skin that ached to be marked, before he knew it, Percy had come, far quicker than ever before.

_Dammit, he's in my head..._ Percy thought as he pressed his forehead to the tiled wall of the shower and let the water fall over him.

Stepping out of the shower, Percy dries himself off and makes his way back into his room, all the while thinking back on the date he had with Nico. Percy didn't mind admitting that he had fun with Nico, a lot of fun, despite the fact that they had just gone to eat out and an arcade. Damn, did Nico have a way of getting inside Percy's head, he needed to clear his head for a bit.

The sea green eyed male decided to head off to the local YMCA to go to the swimming pool and swim a few laps. Maybe that would help clear his head. Stop him from thinking about Nico so much. Percy could only hope, he swore, that kid was going to be the death of him.

* * *

 

Coming out of the YMCA, Percy's phone rang and he saw that Kevin was calling him; sliding to the right, Percy answered Kevin's call.

"Yo."

_"Dude, come over."_ Kevin says, not even bothering to say hello.

"And why should I?" Percy asks, knowing Kevin gets annoyed whenever Percy does that.

_"Because bro, Jason, Leo and Grover are all here. We're playing video games and like, eating junk and stuff."_ Kevin sounded distracted as he tried to convince Percy to come over.

"Hm, I don't know man, I'm-"

_"Seriously dude? I mean, what else have you got planned for today?"_ Kevin exhaled a bit harshly through his nose.

Percy stopped walking midway to his bike and thought about it for a minute. Kevin was right, he had nothing to do, besides torturing himself with thinking about Nico...and that didn't really sound like fun. Well, thinking about Nico yeah, it was rad but then getting...horny while thinking about the brown eyed boy, not so rad. "Alright fine, you win. I'll be there in a few."

_"Rad."_ Kevin said before hanging up.

A few minutes later, Percy found himself in Kevin's driveway, shutting off the engine to his bike and getting off. He walked toward Kevin's house and rang the doorbell before going inside, knowing that the door would be unlocked.

"Yeeeaaahhh!" Percy heard Kevin shout from the living room, "he made it!"

"Yo," Percy greeted the guys as he bro fisted Jason Grace, a blond with electrifying blue eyes, skin that wasn't exactly tan but not pale, more like in-between, an athletic build and who was one inch taller than Percy. He gave a head nod to Leo Valdez (he was busy concentrating on the video game he was playing at hand to actually pump fists with Percy), a very energetic Hispanic with soft brown eyes, wild and messy black curls, and almond skin. He was a bit on the short side, standing at 5'7, and he was a bit scrawny, but he never let that get in the way of showing off. Next, Percy slapped hands with Grover Underwood, his oldest friend whom he had met back when he was 12 years old. Grover was busy eating a brownie, he had light brown curly hair, that was kept tamed underneath a Rasta hat, he had light brown eyes, as light as coffee with milk. His skin tone was a light tan and he had a light brown goatee that he kept maintained, although, there were a few brownie pieces getting stuck in his goatee but it didn't seem like Grover minded much, and he was by far, the tallest of the group.

Grover and Percy had met while going to the same boarding school named Yancy, Percy hadn't exactly been the ideal kid a mother would ask for but it wasn't exactly Percy's fault, he just...sort of had bad luck. The green eyed male met Grover one day when he saw him getting bullied, Percy hated injustice badly, even now, and so he had stepped in and stood up for Grover who was on the grass looking at Percy with something akin to awe. After that, the two of them just...clicked.

Percy had met Jason and Leo when he had gone to a summer camp in Long Island with Annabeth and Grover, there, they had also met Piper and Reyna and they found out they were going to be going to the same high school. The seven of them all got along and when school came around, they bonded pretty quick.

"Yo Perce, wanna bite?" Grover held out the brownie he was eating to Percy who just shook his head.

"Nah, thanks man but not today, I don't really feel like eating a pot brownie."

"Dude, I'm so out of it, I ate this brownie like thirty minutes ago and I'm still eating and I think...I'm trippin'," Grover looked at Percy for a minute, a serious expression on his face before he snorted loudly, "yo Kev, where's your dog?" He turned to the redhead that was handing his controller to Jason.

"Bear," Kevin called out before whistling, "c'mere boy!" Soon enough, a German Sheppard came running up to Kevin, who rubbed his head and behind his ears. "Why'd you need him?" Kevin asked Grover who was reaching out to Bear, who was already licking Grover's hand.

"Cause, I wanna rub his fur." Grover said before falling to the floor and running his hands down Bear's head and back, petting it softly. "Whenever I'm high, I love touching animal's fur, it's always super soft, feels fuckin' unreal."

Percy couldn't help but snicker at that and even Kevin barked out a laugh, Jason and Leo joining in as well.

"You're such a stoner, man," Leo shook his head.

"And proud of it brotha," Grover giggled as Bear licked his face.

"What were you doing today, Perce?" Jason asked the green eyed male, looking at him minutely before looking back at the screen.

"I just woke up and went to the YMCA and used the pool." Percy answered, as nonchalantly as he could.

"That's it?" Leo asked as he continued to beat Jason in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm. "All you did was wake up and swim?" He raised a single eyebrow, though, Percy couldn't see him. "Dude you suck massive ass at this game," he said to Jason which had Grover dying.

"Fuck off you asswaffle, I haven't played this game in a while," Jason grumbled as he tried to get Neji to unlock his special jutsu to beat Gaara.

"Nah," Leo said, shaking his head, "ain't gonna happen mijo, you can NOT beat Gaara, he's boss bro."

"We'll see about that," Jason grunted.

"You're going down!" Leo shouted as he did a final move that beat Neji, to which made Jason groan, "eat it bitches! Ain't no one gonna beat the Super Sized McSizzle!"

"Wanna bet?" Percy asked challengingly, taking the controller from Jason.

"Perce, listen, you're a bit out of your depth here," Leo smirked at Percy.

"What? Chicken?" Percy taunted.

"Oooh, you gonna take that from Percy?" Grover asked Leo from the floor, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nah, let's go!" Leo said as he went back to the screen. Percy picked out a new character and got ready to beat Leo. "You got Sasuke?"

"Yeah, he's awesome dude, dude's got the sharigan," Percy shrugged his shoulders.

"Won't matter, you're still going down." Leo rubbed his nose smugly.

"You're gonna eat your words Leo." Percy smirked.

...

"Can't frickin' believe you won!" Leo moaned from his position on the floor, he was lying face-down in Kevin's living room floor.

"As Naruto says, believe it, fucking believe it."

"On to more important things, how did your date go?" Kevin asked, which had Jason and Grover sitting up straight, and Leo getting off the floor to sit cross-legged, all three watching Percy intently.

"You just had to say it out loud huh, Kev?" Percy blew out a breath.

"You had a date?" Jason asked.

"With who?" Leo inquired.

"Nice one man," Grover nodded his in approval.

"Yeah I had a date and it was...with...Nico di Angelo. Have...have you guys heard of him?" Percy asked.

"Oh yeah, I have Nico for a class," Jason said, nodding his head.

"Nah man, gotta introduce him to me," Grover tapped Percy's knee with his hand.

"Uh..." Leo said, turning a bit red in the face. "Is-isn't he, like, Hazel's brother or som-something?" He stuttered. "And isn't Hazel going out with F-Frank?"

"Uh," Percy looked to Kevin then Jason, who both shrugged their shoulders, not knowing what was going on, "yeah."

"Yeah. I know of him." Leo nodded his head before looking away.

"Okay...you're acting weird, what's up?" Jason asked Leo, but the Hispanic boy refused to open his mouth and instead, his cheeks got redder.

"Back to Percy," Kevin changed the subject, knowing Leo was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, awesome, make me the center of attention," Percy said sarcastically.

"Exactly, now, how did the date go?" He looked at Percy expectantly.

"It was..." the green eyed male heaved a sigh, he hadn't been able to fully take his mind off of Nico and now to be reminded of him, Percy couldn't help the small smile that came to his lips.

"He's smiling, dude's got it bad," Jason said, smirking at the green eyed boy who was lost in his thoughts.

"Shut up," Percy grumbled, "the date was awesome. Me and Nico talked about anything and everything, he's so funny and we laughed so much while we were eating. I took him on my bike you know," Percy looked up at Kevin and Jason, giving them both a ridiculous grin, all lopsided and happy. "And he was so scared at first, about to spew out a fact about the rate of deaths that can occur while riding a motorcycle. We went to the arcade too, he's really good at games, and I tried to win him something from those crane machines but it didn't happen."

"Whoa, dude, you're like, ramblin' and shit," Grover looked at Percy before giving him a shit-eating grin once Percy realized he, in fact,  _had_ been rambling and his cheeks turned red.

"I like him okay, I like him a lot and..." Percy mumbled.

"Annnnddd?" Kevin pushed Percy to continue.

"And I want to ask him out for another date." Percy huffed out a breath.

"Then do it," Jason clapped Percy on the shoulder, looking at him with a smile and a serious expression, it was a cross between the two. "Do it Perce, especially if you like as much as you do, go ahead and ask him out again."

Percy looked at his friends, all nodding their heads in approval, obvious happiness showed on their faces, for him, it made him feel like he could take on the world. He had his friends support, he had Nico interested in him, all he needed to do was back up his words with action, he needed to show Nico he wanted a...relationship? Yeah, a relationship with Nico, that's what Percy wanted, more than anything.

* * *

 

"And so you absolutely  _loved_ your date with Percy, huh?" Sunny teased Nico slightly as she finished off an enemy.

"Ugh, shut up, I don't know why I told you of the date." Nico rolled his eyes at her, he was laying stomach down on her bed while she sat in the far corner of her bed, near the wall, her legs stretched out.

"Awe, come on Neeks, it's all good naturedly teasing," Will stuck his tongue out at Nico who threw Sunny's pillow at his head. "Ow! Really? Was that necessary?"

"Completely." Nico deadpanned.

"Enough you children," Sunny rolled her eyes at the both of them, "anyway, if Percy asks you out on another date, would you say yes?" She asked the brown eyed boy.

He blushed slightly, his cheeks turning red by the seconds, his blush going down to his neck. "Y-yes, I would say yes if Percy were to ask me out on a date."

"Awe, that's too cute!" Sunny gushed but that just made Nico blush even more, and the black haired girl could see it happening. Changing the subject, she turned towards Will, "dude, let's go pick up the pizza, it should be ready by now."

"Oh yeah, let's go, Neeks, you coming?" Will asked Nico.

"Yeah sure," the brown eyed boy responded, and the three of them walked downstairs, opening the door and getting into Sunny's car.

Sunny's car was pretty new, a Ford Fussion 2013, white and it always smelled like lavender. The brown eyed girl loved her car so much, her parents had gotten it for her sixteenth birthday, they had also given her a sweet sixteen.

"I call shotgun," Will said, running up to the front seat of the car while Nico and Sunny rolled their eyes at his antics.

"Good for you dickless," Sunny teased while Will flipped her the bird. Getting inside the car, Sunny started it, turning on the heater and letting the car warm up for a bit before she drove off to pick up the pizza. The radio turned on and a song was playing as Sunny fiddled with the heat, making sure it made it's way to the back so that Nico wouldn't freeze.

_Murder she wrote_  
When I hit it I'mma kill it I'mma get it like  
Murder she wrote  
You wanna know how I know what I know

"Ugh, what is this?" Nico asked as the song continued playing.

"Post To Be," Sunny answered as she sang along with the song, "if your dude come close to me, he gon wanna ride off in a ghost with me, I'll make him do it!" Then Will joined in, both of them singing off-key with the song, "but he got to eat the booty like groceries, but he gotta get rid of these hoes from me..."

"Oh, god, both of you are so annoying," Nico grumbled but he couldn't help the small smile that came on his face as he looked on, his friends jamming to a song, singing off-key and most likely breaking glass somewhere.

* * *

 

_Hey_

A ding let Nico know he had gotten a text message and when he looked at his phone to see who it was, he saw it was from Percy. Replying back, Nico put his phone for one second before another ding sounded.  _Well that was fast..._ he thought to himself as he looked to see what Percy wrote to him.

_I've been thinking about you...the whole day._

The brown eyed boy's heart quickened its pace once he read that sentence.

N:  _Re...really?_

P:  _Yes._

N:  _I...I've been thinking about you too..._

P:  _What are you doing?_

N:  _I'm reading, you?_

P:  _Laying in bed, thinking. What you reading?_

N:  _Catcher In The Rye_

P:  _I actually really liked that book.  
I'm gonna call you okay?_

A few seconds after that message was sent, Nico's phone rang.

"Hello?" He answered, feeling nervous as hell and wondering why when he had talked to Percy before.  _But never on the phone and never before you would be going to sleep, not to mention, you are_ very  _aware of his feelings for you and yours for him._ His brain reminded him.

_"Hey, so, uh, yeah, I actually liked reading Catcher In The Rye, I got a bang out of the things Holden used to say or think."_ Percy says, continuing the conversation from where it left off in the messages.

"Yeah, Holden's pretty funny, he kills me sometimes too."

Nico chuckled, softly and it sent shivers down Percy's spine when he heard it, there in the quiet of the night, just the two of them talking. It almost felt like as if they were in their own world, away from the earth and just in their own dimension, talking to each other as if they were the only ones who existed.

_"What are type of books do you like to read?"_

"I like anything really, but I do have favorites, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen King. I recently ordered a book on Amazon, it should come in the mail sometime next week."

_"What book was it?"_

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

_"That's awesome,"_ Percy laughed a deep laugh that seemed to vibrate through the phone.

"When am I going to be tutoring you again?"

_"Aw c'mon Nico, tutoring? Really?"_

Nico giggled, "yes, Percy, really."

_"Man, I don't really wanna..."_

And they spent the rest of the night talking, until one of them fell asleep, with the other whispering goodnight before hanging up.


	10. Code Names

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Oh my god I am so so so sorry for abandoning you guys for soooo long! I am seriously the WORST person ever! Here is the next chapter to this story and again, I am terribly sorry for the long wait!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

"So it's been three weeks and you guys have barely seen each other."

"No," Nico answered Will, "I've seen him twice last week and the week before that once and this week-"

"None." Will cut in.

"Not yet." Nico corrected.

"Yeah and those times haven't even been dates, they were just tutoring sessions."

"Well midterms are coming up next week, he needs help in English and he's been getting better, plus, it's not his fault. Percy's gotta practice for baseball more now because they have a game coming up and he's the pitcher and Coach Hedge still expects Percy to practice the same amount as the other players for football, if not more because he's the quarterback..." Nico shrugged, "things have been getting a bit busy for him..."

Will sighed softly, "damn, who knew he'd get that busy..."

"Who'd get so busy? What're you guys talking about?" Sunny asked as she started to walk with them.

"Percy, I haven't seen as much these past three weeks."

"Oh, yeah, I haven't seen Kevin as much either, I think I saw him once last week?" Sunny thought back to the last time she saw Kevin, "and then that was it. Both football and baseball are cracking down on their players."

"Yeah and I was just telling Will that." Nico nodded over to the blond.

"Which by the way, I now fully understand the reasons behind..I just thought it was strange the way yo-"

"Have you guys seen Leo?" Will was cut off by Hazel.

"Hey sis...why would you want to know about Leo?" Nico asked.

"Hey bro and because...I need to talk to him about something..."

"Uh, I think I saw Leo by his locker, he was talking to this girl named Calypso or something, chatting her up and flirting with her." Sunny answered Hazel. For a second, in Hazel's golden eyes, an emotion flashed and passed as quickly as lightening. For a moment, her face hardened and it took on a look as predatory as a lioness when it's about to make its kill.

"Oh." And then it was gone. "Okay. Thanks." And she swiftly turned around and walked back to Frank who was waiting for her off to the side. He waved goodbye to the group as he and Hazel made their way back to her locker., both of them whispering to each other about something.

"Uh...that was weird..." Will spoke first, "or was it just me?"

"No, I found it weird too," Sunny nodded her head.

"I'll...I'll talk to her when I get home..."

The trio looked at each other before walking off and talking about the new mad max game coming out.

* * *

 

"Alright Cupcakes! For weeks you all have been practicing football when of course, there were no games to be played. So the next two weeks, practice for football is canceled for everyone because the players on the baseball team have a game coming up and they need to practice." At hearing the news from Coach Hedge, every single football player let out a loud  _whoop!_ and each started to stomp their feet while some were banging on their lockers. It was like a musical cacophony, ringing loud throughout their locker room. "Alright! Alright! Alright!" Coach Hedge yelled to try to get them to quiet down, which helped some. "You gotta finish this week of practice cupcakes, don't forget!"

"No! We won't Coach!" Some of them shouted, while others yelled, "thanks Coach Hedge! Whoo!"

"Now get back to class and don't forget about practice today!"

And with that, every single player filed out of the locker room and made their way to class.

"Yo, Percy," Kevin called to Percy as the sea green eyed male walked ahead. He stopped briefly and turned towards his friend, his head cocking slightly to the right.

"What's up?" He asked Kevin.

"Dude how rad is this?! Football practice canceled for two weeks?"

The green eyed male snorted, "yeah but you and me still gotta practice for baseball so it's not like we're free."

"Yeah but that's only one practice now and we get to leave at six, before, with both practices we were leaving at seven or eight..."

"Okay..." Percy thought about it for a moment, "you're right about that..." he thought some more before a wide grin spread on his face. "Oh hell yeah, this is  _way_ better."

"What is?" Both Kevin and Percy looked to see Annabeth standing next to them. She was carrying a book called  _The Watson's Go To Birmingham._

"Hey Annabeth," Kevin greeted her.

"Hey, so what's the good news?" She asked both boys.

"Practice for football is canceled for the next two weeks because of baseball." Percy answered her.

"Oh," she blinked, and then shrugged her shoulders, "that's great, you guys'll have more free time."

"Mmm yeah." Kevin agreed with her.

...

"Okay so I have no idea what the hell is up with Hazel, Frank and Leo," Nico said as he sat down next to Sunny and Will, who were busy eating lunch.

"What's up?" Will asked the brown eyed boy.

"See-" Nico started only to get interrupted by someone else.

"Hey Nico," said male turned to see Percy standing there, a big grin on his face and right next to him were Kevin, Annabeth, and Jason all with their own lunches.

"Oh," Nico stared owlishly at him, "hi."

"Can we join you for lunch?" Percy asked, looking at the trio for confirmation.

"Definitely." Will answered for them.

"Cool." And with that, Percy sat next to Nico, Kevin next to Sunny, Jason next to will and Annabeth on Percy's other side. "So, what're you guys talking about?" The sea green eyed male asked them.

"Oh, uh, just..." Sunny looked toward Nico to see if he wanted to tell them what was going on or not.

"We were talking about Hazel, Frank and Leo." The brown eyed boy sighed, deciding it would be better to tell them the truth.

"What about?" Jason asked, perking up at the sound of Leo's name.

Sunny recounted the story about what happened this morning with Will, her and Nico up until when Nico was about to say what else was new.

"I saw Hazel, Frank and Leo all talking but I was too far away to hear." Nico took over, "all I saw were Hazel and Frank looking very sorry while Leo's cheeks got red and he kept...looking away from them, it looked like an ex who cheated and was asking for forgiveness with Leo being the one that got cheated on..."

"What?" Jason asked, disbelief evident in his voice and single eyebrow raised. "No," he shook his head, "no way, Leo would have told me something, he's my best friend, there's no way."

"Well there's only one way to find out," Percy said, "we would need to get proof...if we ask up front, they could each lie..."

"Percy's got a point," Kevin agreed as soon as Percy said it.

"Or we could let them work it out for themselves?" Annabeth spoke up, "I mean, this is their personal lives..."

"Yeah but Leo's my best bud and if he's going through something and he hasn't told me..." Jason started.

"What do you think Nico?" Will asked him.

"Hazel's my sister, I need to know if everything is okay or not..." he chewed on his bottom lip slighty, "I say...we do it."

"So then it's settled, we're gonna need to follow them and keep each other updated through a group chat." Percy started.

"Okay," Annabeth sighed heavily.

"But we're also going to need code names," Percy added as well.

"What?" Annabeth asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Because..." the sea green eyed male started, "they're cool. So, I am going to be Eagle 1, Annabeth," Percy looked toward the blonde, "you're gonna be Been There, Done That."

"Wha-" Annabeth scrunched up her face as she heard her code name.

"Nico," Percy continued as if he hadn't heard, with a few snickers in the background, "is Currently Doing That." Nico's cheeks flamed red as he tried to calm down. "Sunny is It Happened Once In A Dream." Sunny burst out laughing as Percy continued. "Kevin is If I Had To Pick  _Another_  Dude."

"B-bro," Kevin said as he blew a kiss to Percy, who caught the kiss, put it in his pocket and winked in return.

"Will is I'd Be Lying If I Said I Haven't Thought About It," Percy looked toward Will who smirked at him while shaking his head, "and Jason is," the sea green eyed male looked to the last blond who was holding his breath, "Eagle 2."

"Oh thank god," Jason sighed as he let out the breath he was holding.

"Alright!" Percy shouted, "autobots, let's roll o-u-t out!"

"Oh god, Percy," Annabeth shook her head slightly, already used to his antics.

"Is he always this way?" Sunny asked the blonde, who looked over at the brown eyed girl.

"Oh yeah, I've known Percy for a very long time, since we were kids and let me tell you," Annabeth let out a chuckle, "my grandma; she used to take care of us as kids, had to put Percy on a leash when he was kid, so yes, he is always like this."

"I didn't need to be put on a leash, I  _wanted_ to be put on a leash, fetishes develop at a young age Annabeth," Percy cut in, making Sunny snort with laughter.

"Oh god, shut up!" The blonde exclaimed as Percy pulled on her hair, teasing her.

"Let's go find out what's going on between Hazel, Frank and Leo!" Kevin yelled, "I'm with you one hundred percent Percy!"

"Bro!" Percy turned to Kevin and placed his palm on Kevin's cheek, staring deeply into Kevin's eyes Percy said, "you're the best bro I could ever have."

"Bro, ball isn't life," Kevin continued, " _you_ are life."

The sea green eyed male gasped dramatically, "b-bro!"

"You two are gayer than me," Nico scowled, "and Percy's bisexual!"

"Okay, enough bro-lovin' you two," Sunny cut in, "time to get to business."

* * *

 

The group had split up into groups of two or three: Nico with Percy, Kevin with Sunny, and finally, Annabeth, Will and Jason were together. It was around lunchtime when they split up, with Jason figuring it would be the best chance to find out what's going on, since Leo, Frank and Hazel along with the rest of them had lunch during the same period.

And so, it was during this time that the group found Hazel and Frank making their way over to Leo who was talking with a Calypso. A girl with honey blonde hair, wavy-curly and tangled, light brown hazel eyes, caramel skin, and peach pink lips. Frank and Hazel stood over Leo and Calypso, with the Latino visibly paling once seeing them in front of him.

The cafeteria was too loud for them to be heard, especially since they were pretty far away but it was clear that Frank and Hazel needed to talk to Leo, privately. Calypso was visibly confused, looking back and forth between the three as Leo refused to talk to them, shaking his head and not backing down.

Hazel clearly looked upset and a bit sadden while Frank looked dejected. They looked about ready to leave when Hazel bent down and whispered something in Leo's ear that made the imp freeze for a half second before looking at Calypso. Leo smiled softly at her, touching her hand briefly and giving it a squeeze before getting up and going with Frank and Hazel, following them out of the cafeteria. Calypso looked on, confusion evident on her face until a friend sat down next to her.

"Alright," Percy started, "let's follow them."

Everyone nodded to each other before going separate ways. Annabeth, Will and Jason went to go talk to Calypso while Kevin, Sunny, Nico and Percy followed the trio, separating once they were outside.

...

Percy and Nico sneaked up on the other side of where Hazel, Leo and Frank were located. The duo had followed them across campus and into the school's library, Percy and the brown eyed boy hid behind bookshelves and followed the trio until they stopped towards the very back of the library.

"Leo," Hazel whispered, it could be heard but it was very faint. Nico was looking through books while Percy pressed his ear closer to hear better. "What do you think you're doing?" She sounded a bit upset.

Leo refused to answer and he stubbornly looked at the ground, refusing to make contact with either of them.

"Leo," Frank begged softly, "please, talk to us..."

"Listen," Hazel's voice softened, "we're...sorry for what we...did..."

Percy looked over to Nico who was already looking back at him. The sea green eyed boy furrowed his eyebrows, asking Nico a silent question but the brown eyed boy just shook his head, not knowing what was going on.

Leo just looked at the ground, even glaring at, as if the ground was to blame.

"Please Leo, you know exactly how  _we_ feel about you but you know why we can't do anything about it..." Frank said, then he moved his hand to land on the Latino's shoulder but he moved away, as if the touch would burn him somehow. Frank looked pained once that happened and slowly retracted his hand.

"Leo..." Hazel begged, "please don't be mad at us we...we lo-"

"No you don't," Leo finally spoke, "I am trying to move on and now that I am, you two won't let me. I will not be left sad and hung up on you both. Leave me alone, please." with that, the Hispanic left them both standing there and walked away. Nico and Percy quickly turned around and picked out a book to disguise themselves.

"I guess...it's too late," Frank started. "We screwed up..."

It wasn't long before they both walked out of the library as well. Once Nico and Percy were sure they had left, they walked to the aisle the trio had been.

"Did you hear that?" Sunny spoke, coming out of nowhere and scaring both boys who jumped in fright.

"Don't  _do_ that," Nico said, regaining his composure.

"Sorry," Sunny snickered, not sounding sorry at all.

"But did you?" Kevin asked once more, coming up on the other side of the aisle.

"Yeah..." Percy answered, "what do you guys think it means?"

"I think it means my sister, Frank and Leo all had  _something_ going on...and I think we all know what that something is..." Nico looked around at the others as he said that.

...

"So Calypso only said how she was talking to Leo when Hazel and Frank suddenly came up to them and took Leo away..." Annabeth told the rest of the group what happened when she went to go ask the honey blonde girl about Leo.

"I think I need to have a talk with Hazel..." Nico said, they had told the trio what happened in the library when he, Percy, Sunny and Kevin followed Hazel, Frank and Leo.

"I need to talk to Leo..." Jason spoke up.

* * *

 

Later on after school and practice, Percy took Nico out to dinner before dropping him off home. Walking the brown eyed boy to the front of the door, they both stopped and Nico turned around to look at Percy.

"I had fun today, despite the fact that I found out something about my sister..." Nico's eyebrows furrowed, "you were funny, especially with the code names," the brown eyed boy chuckled.

"Yeah? You thought I was funny?" Percy smirked, his green eyes sparkling brightly and mischievously.

"Yeah, I did."

"Hm, that's good, I'm glad I don't bore you," the green eyed male joked.

"You rarely do," Nico murmured and soon enough Percy leaned in to give Nico a soft kiss on the lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Sounds good, night Percy." And with that, the brown eyed boy went inside his house and closed the door behind him. The house was quiet, still, and it was very obvious that his parents weren't back yet.

Up the stairs he went, dropping off his things in his room and then making his way to his sister's room. He knocked lightly on her door, which was opened a second later.

"Hey bro," Hazel smiled warmly at Nico, letting him come through. "What's up? Didn't see you when I came home so I assumed you went out with Percy."

"I did," Nico answered her, "hung out with Sunny, Will and Annabeth while waiting for Percy to come out of practice and then me and him went out to eat."

"Nice, so what's up?"

"Um," Nico started, only to hesitate, "Hazel, there's something I...need to ask you..."

"Okay...what is it?"

"It's about," the brown eyed boy took a deep breath, "you, Frank and Leo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, again I am so, so sorry that this has taken forever! Oh god, I vowed I would never do this but life got in the way. I recently moved out from where I was staying since I was being controlled and verbally abused by a family memeber and I had to get out of there. My job started firing a lot of people over stealing, and with a lot of people gone and no new people to fill in the old spots, I had to work a lot of hours along with the rest of the people still there. I recently started a blog on tumblr dedicated solely to my writing and by writing I mean musings and such. Not to mention, my birthday passed (I turned 20!), I've been trying to find a new job, and I got into a relationship with someone who was a friend with benefits and we started to feel more for each other. Plus, I started to outline for a new story for Percico (of course) so I'm working on that and also on my other story Resistance and Boys Of The Wild's so those should be updated next. Again, thank you so much for your patience and I promise, I will work harder to get the updates out faster.


	11. Call It A Compromise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I am back again with another update to this story as well as my other one. I hope you all can forgive me for such a long wait, life got more than a little busy for me, yikes. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter and thank you all for reading.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Hazel's breath hitched in her throat, she momentarily froze and had no way of responding.

"Hazel," Nico continued, moving closer to her, "I don't mean it in a bad way, your my sister and I'll always love you no matter what, but honestly, what is going on between the three of you? I thought...we told each other everything Hazel? I thought you could trust me?"

After the revelation that Frank, his sister and Leo were in a relationship once, it had sunk into Nico that Hazel never once told him about it. That had really hurt, because they always told each other everything. And if they didn't they would communicate silently with each other about anything or any problem they were facing.

"Nico..." Hazel finally found her voice, "of course I trust you with anything, but this..." she faltered, she didn't know how to explain the reason of why she kept this secret. Heck, she didn't even fully understand why she never told Nico about anything. Maybe it was because Leo and Frank both agreed to keep everything under wraps, this _was_ highschool, they would probably get judged because they were in a poly relationship. Maybe it was because Hazel didn't think it would even get as serious as it did. Maybe it was because she was afraid her brother was going to look at her differently. Either way, she should have known her brother would have never turned his back on her.

She sighed quietly, "this...I didn't know how to tell you about this..."

"By just saying it, or not even, you didn't even have to explain yourself, you could have just come up to me to talk about what was going on with your life, maybe you got into a fight with your boyfriends or whatever but you could have trusted me to keep things a secret if that's what you wanted."

"I'm sorry, I know I should know better but I didn't know what to do," Hazel looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say next, unsure of what to do next, unsure of what was going to happen with everything.

For the past two years she and Frank kept a normalcy about their relationship, to the their peers and parents, while also including Leo. But as their relationship progressed, Leo felt that it was unfair for him to be kept hidden away, he wanted to go out with them and kiss them both in public, Hazel and Frank both wanted that too, but at the same time, they didn't want to go public. And Leo didn't want to be hidden.

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you," Nico relented, knowing that he shouldn't get so mad, it was just that he was hurt, "I just worry about you and I care about you," he told Hazel as he moved closer to her until he brought his sister into a hug.

They broke apart after a couple of minutes and laid down on Hazel's bed.

"So, do you wanna tell me about it?" Nico asked after a moment of silence.

"Leo, he..." Hazel started, shaking her head, "Two years ago, Frank and I began to date, officially and you know how both Frank and Leo had crushes on me?"

"Yes," Nico answered.

"Well it went both ways, I will admit that I had a crush on the both of them, I couldn't chose who I wanted to date, and when I talked to Frank about it, he admitted to liking Leo as well. But we didn't know how Leo was going to react, he rarely ever talked to Frank, so we decided to wait. I ended up choosing Frank and Leo was pretty heartbroken over it, but he still talked to me and Frank. They got to know each other and well, eventually we started dropping hints to Leo that we wanted him to be with the both of us."

"And how exactly did you both do that?" Nico asked.

"We kept saying how our relationship was missing something or how we wanted to try something different. Eventually we just ended up telling him that we wanted to be with him, the both of us, and at first he was shocked, he didn't actually say anything to us. But then, he confessed to wanting the same thing as us, he had fallen for Frank and he still had feelings for me. So we made it work."

"Wow," Nico tried to wrap his head around it, everyone thought that Leo still disliked Frank, "so what happened then? How did you break up? If that's what happened..."

"Leo said he got tired of Frank and me being the only ones who got to go out on dates and hold hands in public, be able to be affectionate with each other. He would get hurt when our friends would say we were a cute couple and he said he didn't want to keep hiding his feelings for us. We tried to persuade him to just wait until we got out of high school and it worked for awhile, until a few months ago, when he became distant with us. He hung out with us less, became less affectionate, talked with us less until he finally told us that he couldn't wait until high school was over anymore. He was tired of hiding, drained of energy from keeping us a secret, he couldn't do it anymore. And he broke up with us."

"Oh Hazel, I'm sorry," Nico reached for his sister's hand and squeezed it.

"It's okay I mean, me and Frank brought it on ourselves, we shouldn't have hidden Leo, we should have let people know, I mean, at least we should have told our friends if we weren't ready to be so public. At least around you guys, Leo would have had _something,_ " Hazel looked up at the ceiling, Nico could hear the sadness in her voice.

"So what's going on now?"

"Now, Frank and I are trying to get Leo to take us back...it's not going very good, he's holding on to his decision, I mean he's even trying to get Calypso to go out with him, he's probably getting over us, he probably doesn't even feel anything for us..."

Nico had no idea what to do next, or how to even help his sister out, but he knew he had to do something.

* * *

 

"Jason," Nico spoke to his friend on the phone, as he paced the floor of his room, after the talk, Hazel had said that she was going over to Frank's for awhile and when she left, Nico resolved to call up Jason and see if he could talk to Leo.

_"What's up?"_ Jason asked.

"I know what happened between Leo, Frank and Hazel."

_"Okay, what happened?"_

"Don't say this to anyone, I'm not sure Hazel even wants people to know just yet but the only reason I'm telling you is because you're Leo's best friend and maybe you can help both him and Frank and my sister."

_"Okay what's going on? Is this about what you heard in the library?"_

"Yeah, and I think you should talk to Leo," Nico said before explaining just a portion of what happened between the three of them.

The next day at school, while opening his locker, Leo came by and stood quietly as Nico took out his books, still not noticing that Leo was there.

"Hey Nico," Leo finally spoke up.

Nico turned around and finally noticed him, "oh, hey Leo."

They stood in silence for awhile after that. Neither boy saying anything, the brown eyed boy could guess why Leo was there at his locker but wondered what the Latino boy had to say to him.

"So I know that you know about what happened between me, Hazel and Frank..."

"Yeah, Hazel told me what happened..." Nico responded, they both were silent after that and it was very unlike Leo to be silent, everyone knew him as the chatterbox that he was. "Leo," Nico started, "you know that they both still love you right?"

"That doesn't make up for the fact of me missing out on most of the aspects of a relationship," Leo countered, somewhat angrily, "I couldn't even tell my best friend..."

"I'm sorry about that, but you know that you can't just go out in public with your relationship, people will judge you guys."

"And who cares what they think?! I don't care."

"But Frank and Hazel do and-"

"Oh, so they're ashamed of me, right, or of our love, because they care what people think...they don't really love me," Leo scoffed.

"Maybe you guys should talk one last time, at our house," Nico suggested, "how does that sound?"

Leo thought about it for a minute, what was even the point of talking, nothing was going to change.

"If you promise to talk with my sister and Frank one last time, I'll tell my sister and Frank to promise never to bother you again after this, to leave you alone to heal. And as your friends and their friends, we'll accommodate the both of you, we could hang out separately from them and you. After this final talk, you wouldn't have to be around them until you're ready."

"Okay, I'll talk to them one more time," Leo agreed before walking off and Nico let out a heavy breath, now all he had to do was tell his sister and Frank.

...

"So," Nico began, looking at the three people in his living room, after school had finished, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Nico and Jason all made their way to Nico and Hazel's house, to talk. Nico and Jason would go upstairs to Nico's room and watch a movie while Hazel, Frank and Leo all talked with each other, "you all agree to what will happen from whatever you decide after the talk, right?"

"Yeah," the three of them answered.

"Okay, me and Jason are gonna go upstairs and we'll be there for you guys," Nico said as he and Jason made their way up the stairs, leaving the trio alone.

Silence ensued as the three of them sat there, not knowing how to start the conversation. For months, Hazel and Frank tried their best to talk with Leo, always changing what they were going to say to once they were given the chance but now that they did have it, they had no idea what to say to him.

"So, I guess this is the part where we all talk about our feelings and things like that," Leo began, trying to expel the awkwardness that had settled in the room.

Hazel and Frank smiled and laughed just a bit.

"Leo," Frank started, "we miss you, so much."

"We still love you, we still care about you," Hazel took over.

It was silent once more. If Leo were being honest with them and himself, he still cared about them too, he still loved them too, but it just wasn't in him to be hidden away anymore.

"Do you still feel the same about us?" Hazel asked, feeling hopeful.

"I do," Leo bit his lip, "but..."

"But?" Frank asked, grabbing Leo's hand, he couldn't help it anymore, he hadn't been able to touch Leo for the longest time, he hadn't be able to hold Leo and kiss him, "but what is it?"

"But I don't want to go back to the way things were, I love you both but I also want to show it."

"Leo we can't," Hazel said, "you know that, we can't be public about this or else people will talk, they wouldn't understand us, they would judge us."

"So you're ashamed of me. You're ashamed of our love, of what we have. You don't want people to know about me," Leo said angrily, snatching his hand back from Frank's grasp.

"Leo, that's not it, if we went out to the school about this, we would probably be separated, you and Hazel could get bullied because people would think we were weird or something, we would have to think about it first. Our high school is big but something like this could get out in seconds and people would judge us, they would judge you Leo and you could get hurt," Frank tried his best to explain his and Hazel's fears, "we don't want you to get hurt Leo."

"And your mom and our parents have to be okay with this too, if not okay with it, then at least to let them know that we all care for one another and you have to be ready to make that type of commitment Leo," Hazel tried to reason with him.

Leo thought about that, he hadn't really given much thought about things if they went public with their relationship, Leo was mostly thinking of himself, which he didn't feel too good about.

"Look Leo, how about a compromise?" Frank suggested, "how about we tell our parents about us and our mutual friends, whoever we trust about us as well, and around them, we can be as affectionate and loving as we want, how does that sound?"

Leo looked at the two of them, his heart pounding in his chest, that plan seemed a lot better than how it was before, Leo could wait until high school was over with that plan.

"You mean it?" Leo asked.

"Of course," Hazel reassured.

"Will you take us back?" Frank asked, "because we miss you so, so much."

Leo knew that deep down, he still wanted to be with the both of them, he knew that he still felt so much for them. "Of course I take you both back, just as long as you can forgive me about how I acted..."

Frank marched to where Leo was standing, grabbed Leo's head with both of his hands and smashed their lips together. Leo felt Frank's tongue work it's way into his mouth, swiping at his teeth before pulling on Leo's tongue. Frank finally pulled away from Leo but not before giving him a small peck, "of course we forgive you."

Hazel was behind Leo as Frank answered him and began rubbing her left hand up and down Leo's chest, her right hand rubbing circles on Leo's right arm while kissing his neck. She turned his face toward hers and kissed him on the lips as well, before letting up for air.

"So, when do you wanna tell our friends?" Frank asked, smiling when he saw how happy Leo got.

"As soon as possible."

"Sounds perfect," Hazel agreed.

When Jason and Nico came down to get food, they found all three of them on the couch sitting together, their phones out and watching tv while also laying on Frank. He was like a big pillow for Hazel and Leo. And for a long time, Jason saw Leo genuinely happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so that was the chapter, I know a bit short and I know that I promised a longer chapter and that I promised it a while ago but I got a really bad case of writer's block. That and life was keeping me busy.
> 
> So I know it's been a while and I am really sorry about not updating for the longest time ever but I'm getting into the groove of things. Slowly I'll start updating more often. Now about this story, it should soon wrap up, it was never intended to be such a long story anyway. It was supposed to be something short and lighthearted as I wrote my other two stories that were more longer. I believe just a couple of more chapters are on the way before it finishes.
> 
> I'd like to thank you all for reading and for waiting on this update and for sticking with me, now next chapter should be a bit longer, until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> Again, let me know what you think? This started out with me just wanting to do something for fun and I didn't need to delve in too deep. Comments are welcome!


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